Amorphous and nanocrystalline materials are a class of their own. Their properties are quite different to those of the corresponding crystalline materials. This book gives systematic insight into their physical properties, structure, behaviour, and design for special advanced applications.

Amorphous-nanocrystalline alloys are a relatively new class of materials born from the rapid development of new technologies and different methods of producing amorphous and nanocrystalline powders and films, compacting, melt quenching, megaplastic deformation, implantation, laser, plasma, and other high-energy methods. This book considers methods of producing these materials (melt quenching, controlled crystallization, deformation effect, and pulse treatments (photon, laser and ultrasound), spraying thin films, and ion implantation). Theoretical and experimental studies describe plastic deformation mechanisms and physico-mechanical properties. Practical applications are also presented.

This book deals with the chemical and electrochemical reactivity of novel materials in various environments. Special emphasis is put on metastable materials such as amorphous and nanostructured materials including carbon nanostructures and the novel bulk metallic glasses. Properties include corrosion resistance, electrochemical and catalytic activities, hydrogen sorption properties etc. The materials are made by various non-equilibrium processes such as rapid-quenching, high energy ball milling and thin film deposition techniques. Hydrogen storage and new materials for Ni-MH batteries are topics of particular interest in this book.

Metallic (magnetic and non-magnetic) nanocrystalline materials have been known for over ten years but only recent developments in the research into those complex alloys and their metastable amorphous precursors have created a need to summarize the most important accomplishments in the field. This book is a collection of articles on various aspects of metallic nanocrystalline materials, and an attempt to address this above need. The main focus of the papers is put on the new issues that emerge in the studies of nanocrystalline materials, and, in particular, on (i) new compositions of the alloys, (ii) properties of conventional nanocrystalline materials, (iii) modeling and simulations, (iv) preparation methods, (v) experimental techniques of measurements, and (vi) different modern applications. Interesting phenomena of the physics of nanocrystalline materials are a consequence of the effects induced by the nanocrystalline structure. They include interface physics, the influence of the grain boundaries, the averaging of magnetic anisotropy by exchange interactions, the decrease in exchange length, and the existence of a minimum two-phase structure at the atomic scale. Attention is also paid to the special character of the local atomic ordering and to the corresponding interatomic bonding as well as to anomalies and particularities of electron density distributions, and to the formation of metastable, nanocrystalline (or quasi-crystalline) phases built from exceptionally small grains with special properties. Another important focus of attention are new classes of materials which are not based on new compositions, but rather on the original and special crystalline structure in the nanoscale.

Manufacturing Techniques for Materials: Engineering and Engineered provides a cohesive and comprehensive overview of the following: (i) prevailing and emerging trends, (ii) emerging developments and related technology, and (iii) potential for the commercialization of techniques specific to manufacturing of materials. The first half of the book provides the interested reader with detailed chapters specific to the manufacturing of emerging materials, such as additive manufacturing, with a valued emphasis on the science, technology, and potentially viable practices specific to the manufacturing technique used. This section also attempts to discuss in a lucid and easily understandable manner the specific advantages and limitations of each technique and goes on to highlight all of the potentially viable and emerging technological applications. The second half of this archival volume focuses on a wide spectrum of conventional techniques currently available and being used in the manufacturing of both materials and resultant products. Manufacturing Techniques for Materials is an invaluable tool for a cross-section of readers including engineers, researchers, technologists, students at both the graduate level and undergraduate level, and even entrepreneurs.

Magnetic and superconducting materials pervade every avenue of the technological world – from microelectronics and mass-data storage to medicine and heavy engineering. Both areas have experienced a recent revitalisation of interest due to the discovery of new materials, and the re-evaluation of a wide range of basic mechanisms and phenomena.This Concise Encyclopedia draws its material from the award-winning Encyclopedia of Materials and Engineering, and includes updates and revisions not available in the original set -- making it the ideal reference companion for materials scientists and engineers with an interest in magnetic and superconducting materials. - Contains in excess of 130 articles, taken from the award-winning Encyclopedia of Materials: Science and Technology, including ScienceDirect updates not available in the original set - Each article discusses one aspect of magnetic and superconducting materials and includes photographs, line drawings and tables to aid the understanding of the topic at hand - Cross-referencing guides readers to articles covering subjects of related interest

In general, metallic alloys are the interdisciplinary subject or even an area that cover physics, chemistry, material science, metallurgy, crystallography, etc. This book is devoted to the metallic alloys. The primary goal is to provide coverage of advanced topics and trends of R

It seems there is no special need to comment on the term 'nanostructure' now, when one often meets the 'nano' words not only in scientific journals but even in newspapers. Moreover, today they are even to be heard in TV and radio programmes. In academic science, where the terms 'nanostructure' and 'nan otechnology' have been extremely popular since the early 1990s, they have been successfully extended to the sphere of economics and business, and now to politics. This is quite natural because nanostructures and nanotechnolo gies will surely serve as a basis for the most advanced and highest technology production in the nearest and probably also the remote future. Hence, the struggle to create and occupy its markets is already under way. In this respect, it is of great interest to review data on the dynamics of U. S. Federal Goverment expenditure for nanotechnology [1,2]. In the fiscal years 1997 and 2002, expenditure was approximately US$116 and US$ 697 million, respectively. In the fiscal year 2004, the President's request for US federal in vestment in nanoscale science, engineering and technology is about US$ 849 million [2]. The indicative budget allocated to the Thematic Priority enti tled 'Nanotechnologies and nanosciences, knowledge-based multifunctional materials and new production processes and devices' for the duration 2002- 2006 of the sixth EU Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development is EUR 1300 million [3].

This book celebrates 20 years of MRS symposia on the topic of amorphous silicon. Contributors showed that the simplified theories developed to explain the limited experimental information available in the early eighties have spurred more sophisticated experimentation - either refining the early understanding or making it irrelevant. The differences of opinion that continue to exist and emerge are probably the hallmark of the amazing vitality of this field. Applications range from 'mature' thin-film transistors, solar cells and image sensors, to the 'emerging' possibility of erbium-doped nanocrystalline silicon-based materials for lasers and amorphous silicon quantum dots for luminescent devices. The book discusses material characterization, growth processes and devices. Each chapter is further subdivided into sections that group papers around common themes. Topics include: nanomaterials; electronic structure; metastable effects; understanding of growth processes; laser-induced crystallization; metal-induced crystallization; other growth techniques; newer devices; solar cells and thin-film transistors.

Proceedings of a fall 1997 symposium, representing recent work in the study, development, and commercialization of mechanically alloyed, metastable, and nanocrystalline materials. Contains sections on synthesis and processing, characterization, thermodynamics and kinetics, properties, and near and long term applications. Specific subjects include mechanical alloying and milling, consolidation and sintering, metastable phases, crystallization, and magnetic properties. This two-volume set contains a total of 165 papers. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR.