In an earlier book — An Introduction to Rheology — we stated that rheology is a difficult
subject. However, even though we then tried to make it as simple as possible, a number of
people still told us that they found the book hard going. This present book is meant to satisfy
this group. For this reason, the mathematical content has been kept to a minimum, and the
text is as descriptive as possible: there are no integrals and only the occasional differentiation
symbol, with all the equations in the simple algebraic form of A = B.
The book is suitable as a first introduction to the subject of Rheology for any student
of science or engineering. However, having worked in industry for thirty years, I am also
trying to meet the needs of my industrial colleagues who — often without any previous
training in the subject of rheology — find themselves having to work on the formulation and
processing of non-Newtonian liquids. The contents of this book are expansions of lectures
that I have given to both these groups of people over the years, in introductory rheology
courses run by rheometer companies, training organisations and universities around the
world.