This volume will contain about 40 invited papers and over 200 contributed papers covering all aspects of high-pressure research in physics, chemistry, materials science and biology. It will serve as an exhaustive review of recent achievements in these areas and of the topics of major interest. The list of subjects include: 1) Electronic, optical, and transport properties of solids; 2) Phase transitions, structural properties, and lattice dynamics; 3) Crystal growth and material synthesis; 4) Organic synthesis and biological applications; 5) Geophysical sciences; 6) Instrumentation and metrology; 7) Superhard materials; 8) Ceramics and sintering; 9) Food processing; 10) Plasticity and hydroextrusion.Contributors include: N W Ashcroft (USA), V Blank (Russia), E M Cambell (USA), H G Drickamer (USA), W B Holzapfel (Germany), J Karpinski (Switzerland), H K Mao (USA), W J Nellis (USA), W Paul (USA), E G Ponyatovsky (Russia), A L Ruoff (USA), J S Schilling (USA), O Shimomura (Japan), I F Silvera (USA), B Sundquist (Sweden).

This is the first book to classify and systematize the available data on the behavior of binary alloys under high pressure. Despite the fact that there is a strong correlation between temperature-composition (T-C) phase diagrams at normal pressure and three- dimensional temperature-composition-pressure (T-C-P) diagrams, many material scientists seldom refer to the (T-C-P) diagrams, just as many high pressure researchers often ignore the data obtained at normal pressure. This book aims to bridge the gap between data obtained at high pressure and that obtained at normal pressure. The most recent research covers not only elements and stoichiometric compounds, but also binary, ternary, and multicomponent alloys, and so this book covers an extended range of substances. The properties of 890 binary systems and a further 1153 pseudobinary and ternary systems are summarized, and accompanied by an extensive bibliography. The data includes information on the solubility of components in solid solutions, melting, and first- and second-order phase transformations in alloys and stoichiometric compounds.

Volume 37 of Reviews in Mineralogy, divided into three sections, begins with an overview (Chapter 1) of the remarkable advances in the ability to subject minerals-not only as pristine single-crystal samples but also complex, natural mineral assemblages-to extreme pressure-temperature conditions in the laboratory. These advances parallel the development of an arsenal of analytical methods for measuring mineral behavior under those conditions. This sets the stage for section two (Chapters 2-8) which focuses on high-pressure minerals in their geological setting as a function of depth. This top-down approach begins with what we know from direct sampling of high-pressure minerals and rocks brought to the surface to detailed geophysical observations of the vast interior. The third section (Chapters 9-19) presents the material fundamentals, starting from properties of a chemical nature, such as crystal chemistry, thermochemistry, element partitioning, and melting, and moving toward the domain of mineral physics such as melt properties, equations of state, elasticity, rheology, vibrational dynamics, bonding, electronic structure, and magnetism. The Review thus moves from the complexity of rocks to their mineral components and finally to fundamental properties arising directly from the play of electrons and nuclei. This volume was prepared for a short course by the same title, organized by Russell J. Hemley and Ho-kwang Mao and sponsored by the Mineralogical Society of America, December 4-6, 1998 on the campus of the University of California at Davis.

As laboratories replace heavy hydraulic presses and bulky high-pressure chambers with miniature diamond anvils, traditional heaters with laser heating, and continue to improve methods of shock compression, there has been considerable new data obtained from the high-pressure, high-temperature modification of pure elements. The dense metallic modification of elements shows the potential for achieving superconductivity akin to theoretical predictions. Phase Transformations of Elements Under High Pressure contains the latest theoretical and experimental information on nearly 100 elements, including first-and second-phase transitions, melting lines, crystal structures of stable and metastable phases, stability of polymorphic modifications, and other useful properties and data. It emphasizes features such as changes in the liquid state, amorphization, and metallization, and provides temperature-pressure diagrams for every element. The book also describes the transitions of polymeric forms of fullerene, crystal modifications of elements stable under high pressures, and provides data that confirms their superconducting and magnetic properties. This handbook will be a lasting reference for scientists in a broad range of disciplines, including solid-state physics, chemistry, crystallography, mineralogy, and materials science.

This volume concerns the fracture and fragmentation of solid materials that occurs when they are subjected to extremes of stress applied at the highest possible rates. The plan for the volume is to address experimental, theoretical, and com putational aspects of high-rate dynamic fracture and fragmentation, with emphasis on recent work. We begin with several chapters in which the emphasis falls on experimental methods and observations. These chapters address both macroscopic responses and the microscopic cause of these re sponses. This is followed by several chapters emphasizing modeling-the physical explanation and mathematical representation of the observations. Some of the models are deterministic, while others focus on the stochastic aspects of the observations. Often, the ov\!rall objective of investigation of dynamic fracture and fragmentation phenomena is provision of a means for predicting the entire course of an event that begins with a stimulus such as an impact and proceeds through a complicated deformation and fracture pro cess that results in disintegration of the body and formation of a rapidly expanding cloud of debris fragments. Analysis of this event usually involves development of a continuum theory and computer code that captures the experimental observations by incorporating models of the important pheno mena into a comprehensive description of the deformation and fracture pro cess. It is to this task that the work of the last few chapters is devoted.

While much is known about the effects of shock compression on monolithic materials, the unusual physical and chemical processes that take place when a porous medium is shocked have hardly been studied until now. Here, leading researchers in condensed matter physics, physical chemistry, metallurgy, mechanics, and materials science bridge this gap. The focus is on heterogeneous deformation mechanisms, nonequilibrium thermodynamics, and chemical processes, covering such topics as modelling the complex interplay of thermal, mechanical, and chemical processes; experimental data on pore collapse and their interpretation; and synthesis of new materials through shock-induced chemical reactions. By presenting not only the most recent results, but also the open questions that remain, these essays convey the excitement of developing a scientific basis for understanding shock compression.