Contact mechanics deals with the elastic or plastic contact between two solid objects, and is thus intimately connected with such topics as fracture, hardness, and elasticity.

This text, intended for advanced undergraduates, begins with an introduction to the mechanical properties of materials, general fracture mechanics, and fractures in brittle solids. This is followed by a detailed discussion of stresses and the nature of elastic and elastic-plastic contact. The discussion then turns to a description of stress fields and their role in the formation of cracks in brittle materials and of sub-surface damage in ductile materials. The book concludes with an overview of practical methods if indentation testing.