The first edition of this book was written primarily as a research monograph for the Solid State Science Series of Cambridge University Press. Since its first publication, however, the book has found wide readership among students and practicing engineers as well as researchers. In view of this audience base which evolved to be much broader than what the book was originally intended for, it was felt that now would be an appropriate time for the preparation of an updated and revised second edition which includes newer material, example problems, case studies and exercises. In order to have the greatest flexibility in the incorporation of these new items in the book, it was also decided to publish the second edition as a ‘stand-alone’ book of Cambridge University Press, rather than as a research monograph of the Solid State Science Series.

In writing the second edition, I have adhered to the objectives which are stated in the preface to the first edition. In order to structure the expanded scope coherently, the book is organized in the following manner. The introduction to the subject of fatigue, the overall scope of the book and background information on some of the necessary fundamentals are provided in the first chapter. The book is then divided into four parts. Cyclic deformation and fatigue crack nucleation in ductile, brittle and semi-crystalline or noncrystalline solids are given extensive coverage in Part One.