This monograph has its origins in a two-day meeting with the same title
held in London, England in the spring of 1987. The idea for the meeting
came from members of the UK Mineral and Rock Physics Group. It was held
under the auspices of, and made possible by the generous support of, the
Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Additional financial
assistance was provided by ECC International pIc and the Cookson Group
pIc. The aims of the London meeting were to survey the current state of
knowledge about deformation processes in non-metallic materials and to
bring together both experts and less experienced Earth scientists and
ceramicists who normally had little contact but shared common interests
in deformation mechanisms. This monograph has similar aims and, indeed,
most of its authors were keynote speakers at the meeting. Consequently,
most of the contributions contain a review element in addition to the
presentation and discussion of new results. In adopting this format, the
editors hope that the monograph will provide a valuable state-of-the-art
sourcebook, both to active researchers and also to graduate students
just starting in the relevant fields.