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.

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.

Fifty-eight peer-reviewed papers from the December 2003 symposium examine questions of structure, properties, and processing of amorphous and nanocrystalline materials. Organized into six sessions, the broad topics covered within this area of materials science include crystallization of amorphous alloys, quasicrystals from metallic glasses, processing and glass forming ability, physical properties, shear bands and mechanical properties, and applications and environmental effects. Annotation : 2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com).

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.

In the monograph, the first of this type in the world, the authors discuss systematically the current state of investigations into nanocrystalline materials. The experimental results on the effect of the nanocrystalline state on the microstructure and the mechanical, thermophysical, optical, and magnetic properties of metals, alloys and solid-phase compounds are generalised. Special attention is given to the main methods of production of isolated nanoparticles, ultrafine powders and dense nanocrystalline materials. The dimensional effects in isolated nanoparticles and high-density nanocrystalline materials are discussed in detail, and the important role of the interface in the formation of the structure and properties of dense nanocrystalline materials is shown. The modelling considerations, explaining special features of the structure and anomalous properties of substances in the nanocrystalline condition, are analysed.