Light Alloys

Ian Polmear is a graduate in Metallurgical Engineering from the University of Melbourne. After some brief experience in local industry, he joined the former Aeronauitcal Reseach Laboratories in Melbourne where he later became a Principal Research Scientist and Leader of the Aircraft Materials Group. Shortly after Monash University was established in 1961, he was appointed Professor of Materials Science and was Foundation Chairman of the Department of Materials Engineering. Before retiring in 1992, he served four years as Deputy Vice-Chancellor. His research interests have focused on precipitation phenomena in aluminium alloys, trace element effects, relationships between microstructure and mechanical properties, and the development of high strength aluminium alloys for aircraft. He has had visiting appointments in England, Switzerland and Japan and was the author of the first four editions of Light Alloys which were published between 1981 and 2006. Emeritus Professor Polmear is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering and an Honorary Fellow of the British Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining.