Book excerpt: Despite the increased understanding we now have of materials and their properties, selecting materials for a given application remains a daunting, non-trivial task. The volume of data, inadequacies in the data, and the tens of thousands of materials to choose from can overwhelm the would-be user. The Materials Selector addresses all the problems faced by materials scientists and engineers. In its three volumes you will find the properties, performance, and processability of metals, plastics, carbon and graphite, glasses, ceramics, polymerics, and composites. The characteristics and comparative economics of the manufacturing routes that convert these materials into engineering components.