Liquid metal technology has been the subject of an impetuous development in the recent decades, mainly due to the application of liquid met als in nuclear techniques. The technological development has been supported by studies of the basic physical-chemical properties of liquid metals: One major concern is the material behaviour in contact with the liquid metals, corrosion and the possible deterioration of metallic and ceramic materials which are in use as constructional or functional materials in such systems. Since the corrosion is in many cases not only a simple dissolution process, the chemical background of such processes had to be studied. Such studies included the determination of solubilities of metals and non-metals in liquid metals, the measurement of thermodynamic data of dissolved materials and of chemical equilibria. Several formerly unknown chemical compounds are formed in liquid metal~ lnd are only stable in this environment. The research and deve\opment devoted to the fission reactor techniques were more or less completed in several countries, further work is in progress in some countries in which the interest in fast breeder reactors arose recently. Even the worldwide program on fusion reactor technology is related to liquid metals, and severallaboratories are now contributing to this new technology.

The international seminar "Material Behavior and Physical Chemistry in Liquid Metal Systems" was organized by the Institute of Materials and Solid State Research of the Karlsruhe Nuclear Research Center (Karlsruhe, Federal Republic of Germany). The seminar was held at the Nuclear Engineering School of the center on March 24-26, 1981. The aim of the seminar was to give metallurgists, chemists,. and physicists working in different areas of the science and technology of liquid metals an opportunity to discuss the basic work and the need for further work in this field. Since the seminar was held near one of the laboratories which for the last few years has been engaged in liquid alkali metal studies, partic ipants also had an opportunity to observe modern equipment for liquid alkali metal research. Interest in the application of liquid metals as working fluids in energy production, conversion, and storage is increasing. The technology has already demonstrated its high standards, which make possible the operation of large sodium-cooled fast reactors. Past conferences have shown, however, that there is still a lack of basic knowledge and understanding. Therefore, the aim of the present seminar was to discuss basic work in detail, and most of the papers contributed to this objective.

This is a long-needed general introduction to the physics and chemistry of the liquid-vapor phase transition of metals. Physicists and physical chemists have made great strides understanding the basic principles involved, and engineers have discovered a wide variety of new uses for fluid metals. Yet there has been no book that brings together the latest ideas and findings in the field or that bridges the conceptual gap between the condensed-matter physics relevant to a dense metallic liquid and the molecular chemistry relevant to a dilute atomic vapor. Friedrich Hensel and William Warren seek to change that here. They draw on cutting-edge research and data from carefully selected fluid-metal systems as they strive to develop a rigorous theoretical approach to predict the thermodynamic behavior of fluid metals over the entire liquid-vapor range. This book will appeal to theoreticians interested in metal-nonmetal transitions or continuous phase transitions in general. It will also be of great value to those who need to understand the practical applications of fluid metals, for example, as a high-temperature working fluid or as a key component of semiconductor manufacturing. Originally published in 1999. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.