Intermetallic compounds play an extraordinary role in daily life for construction materials and well-defined functions that are based on their specific chemical and physical properties, e.g. magnetism and superconductivity. High-tech materials are meanwhile indispensable in our technology-driven information society. The Periodic Table comprises more than 80 metallic elements which offer an incredible potential for formation of binary, ternary and even multinary intermetallic compounds with peculiar crystal structures and properties. The present textbook introduces into the basics of intermetallic chemistry with an emphasis on crystal chemistry and selected chemical and physical properties.

Derived from the highly acclaimed series Materials Science and Technology, this book covers the properties as well as the present and emerging applications of intermetallics. Mechanical characteristics, microstructure as well as the environmental influence on intermetallics are treated in depth. In addition, the prospects and risks inherent in materials development as well as typical applications of intermetallics are critically assessed. It is the author's aim to provide the basis for understanding the physical mechanisms, which influence the properties of the materials and ultimately their areas of application. Materials covered include: Titanium Aluminides and Related Phases * Nickel Aluminides and Related Phases * Iron Aluminides and Related Phases * Cu-Base Phases * A15 Phases * Laves Phases * Rare-Earth Compound * Beryllides * Silicides Intermetallics is a valuable source of information for researchers and graduate students working in materials science, metallurgy, condensed-matter physics, and engineering.

The fascinating world of intermetallics is largely unexplored. There are many exciting physical properties and important technological applications of intermetallics, from magnetism to superconductivity. The main focus of this book is on the statistics, topology and geometry of crystal structures and structure types of intermetallic phases. The underlying physics, in particular chemical bonding, is discussed whenever it helps understand the stability of structures and the origin of their physical properties. The authors' approach, based on the statistical analysis of more than twenty thousand intermetallic compounds in the data base Pearson's Crystal Data, uncovers important structural relationships and illustrates the relative simplicity of most of the general structural building principles. It also shows that a large variety of actual structures can be related to a rather small number of aristotypes. The text aims to be readable and beneficial in one way or another to everyone interested in intermetallic phases, from graduate students to experts in solid state chemistry and physics, and materials science. For that purpose it avoids the use of enigmatic abstract terminology for the classification of structures. Instead, it focuses on the statistical analysis of crystal structures and structure types in order to draw together a larger overview of intermetallics, and indicate the gaps in it - areas still to be explored, and potential sources of worthwhile research. The text should be read as a reference guide to the incredibly rich world of intermetallic phases.

Intermetallics is concerned with all aspects of ordered chemical compounds between two or more metals and notably with their applications. This book covers new and important research on the crystal chemistry and bonding theory of intermetallics; determination and analysis of phase diagrams; the nature of superlattices, antiphase domains and order-disorder transitions; the geometry and dynamics of dislocations and related defects in intermetallics; theory and experiments relating to flow stress, work-hardening, fatigue and creep; response of deformed intermetallics to annealing; magnetic and electrical properties of intermetallics; structure and properties of grain and interphase boundaries; the effect of deviations from stoichiometry on physical and mechanical properties; crystallisation of intermetallics from the melt or amorphous precursors.

Fills a Prominent Gap in a Significant Area of IntermetallicsPresenting a comprehensive overview of structural intermetallics (the most important class of intermetallics), Structural Intermetallics and Intermetallic Matrix Composites is a reference written with the beginning student as well as the practicing professional in mind. Utilizing the auth

The attractive physical and mechanical properties of ordered intermetallic alloys have been recognized since early in this century. However, periodic attempts to develop intermetallics for structural applications were unsuc cessful, due in major part to the twin handicaps of inadequate low-temper ature ductility or toughness, together with poor elevated-temperature creep strength. The discovery, in 1979, by Aoki and Izumi in Japan that small additions of boron caused a dramatic improvement in the ductility of Ni3Al was a major factor in launching a new wave of fundamental and applied research on intermetallics. Another important factor was the issuance in 1984 of a National Materials Advisory Board reported entitled "Structural Uses for Ductile Ordered Alloys," which identified numerous potential defense-related applications and proposed the launching of a coordinated development program to gather engineering property and processing data. A substantial research effort on titanium aluminides was already underway at the Air Force Materials Laboratory at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio and, with Air Force support, at several industrial and university laboratories. Smaller programs also were under way at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, under Department of Energy sponsorship. These research efforts were soon augmented in the United States by funding from Department of Defense agencies such as Office of Naval Research and Air Force Office of Scientific Research, and by the National Science Foundation.

Complex metal alloys (CMAs) comprise a huge group of largely unknown alloys and compounds, where many phases are formed with crystal structures based on giant unit cells containing atom clusters, ranging from tens of to more than thousand atoms per unit cell. In these phases, for many phenomena, the physical length scales are substantially smaller than the unit-cell dimension. Hence, these materials offer unique combinations of properties which are mutually exclusive in conventional materials, such as metallic electric conductivity combined with low thermal conductivity, good light absorption with high-temperature stability, high metallic hardness with reduced wetting by liquids, etc.This book is the first of a series of books issued yearly as a deliverable to the European Community of the School established within the European Network of Excellence CMA. Written by reputed experts in the fields of metal physics, surface physics, surface chemistry, metallurgy, and process engineering, this book brings together expertise found inside as well as outside the network to provide a comprehensive overview of the current state of knowledge in CMAs.