A comprehensive treatment of the chemistry and physics of mechanical hardness Chemistry and Physics of Mechanical Hardness presents a general introduction to hardness measurement and the connections between hardness and fundamental materials properties. Beginning with an introduction on the importance of hardness in the development of technology, the book systematically covers: Indentation Chemical bonding Plastic deformation Covalent semiconductors Simple metals and alloys Transition metals Intermetallic compounds Ionic crystals Metal-metalloids Oxides Molecular crystals Polymers Glasses Hot hardness Chemical hardness Super-hard materials Chemistry and Physics of Mechanical Hardness is essential reading for materials scientists, mechanical engineers, metallurgists, ceramists, chemists, and physicists who are interested in learning how hardness is related to other properties and to the building blocks of everyday matter.