Book excerpt: The authors were motivated to prepare this book by the absence of any recent comprehensive book on titanium. The intent of this book is to provide a modern compendium that addresses both the phyical metallurgy as well as the applications of titanium. Until now the only book on this subject is that by Zwicker which was written in German and published almost 30 years ago. Chapter 1 is an introduction to the subject including some historical aspects of titanium. Chapter 2 is a s- mary of the Fundamental Aspects of Titanium, Chapter 3 is a summary of the Technological Aspects of Titanium and Chapters 4 through 9 address the specifics of the various classes of titanium ranging from CP Titanium to Titanium Matrix Composites. Finally, Chapter 10 covers “special” properties and applications of titanium. Our intent has been to address the subject conceptually rather than provide quantities of data of the sort that would be found in a Handbook. It is our intent that this book is useful for materials scientists and engineers interested in using titanium and for students either as a sourcebook or as a textbook. We have - tempted to include a representative set of references which provide additional detail for readers interested in specific aspects of titanium. Because of the re- tively recent growth of the technological importance of titanium, there is a vo- minous literature on titanium. While our references span this literature it has proven impossible to mention every contribution.