When this volume was first published in 1971, the science of deformation of materials, now usually known as rheology, had branched out into several new and significant areas of research. In particular, the search for compounds with specified desirable properties had produced synthetic materials of great technological importance. This third edition contains authoritative contributions from specialists in the various fields. The aim of the book was to draw together and discuss the problems of physicists, chemists and technologists, and the editors attempted, in so far as it was possible for a science in a state of growth, to trace a unity of thought THAT is seldom apparent in the literature of this subject. The early chapters deal with the physical principles of elasticity, plasticity and viscosity, and relate physical and chemical structure to rheological properties. Individual chapters later in the book contain comparative accounts of a wide range of materials, some naturally occurring and others man-made; the general theoretical laws of rheology are compared with experimental observations.