The Proceedings of the International Materials Symposium on Ceramic Microstructures '86: Role of Interfaces presents a comprehensive coverage of the past decade's advances in ceramic science and technology related to microstructures. The term microstructure is used in the broad sense and is synonymous with char~cter. Character is defined as a complete detailed description of chemical and physical characteristics of a material. This symposium is the third in a series, held every ten years, on ceramic microstructures. The first symposium, in 1966, had as a subtitle "Their Analysis, Significance and Production" and emphasized the need and importance of characterization in order to fully understand the chemical and physical properties of materials. The second Symposium, in 1976, placed emphasis on the exploration of characters most suited and needed for "Energy-Related Applications." By the time of that conference, the sequence of processing--characterization--properties was fully accepted. It was recognized that characterization was the basis of materials science; the objective of processing was to produce a desired character that was considered necessary to realize a given property or behavior. To further emphasize the importance of character, the symposium dealt primarily with the property/character coupling.

The Proceedings of the International Materials Symposium on Ceramic Microstructures '86: Role of Interfaces presents a comprehensive coverage of the past decade's advances in ceramic science and technology related to microstructures. The term microstructure is used in the broad sense and is synonymous with char~cter. Character is defined as a complete detailed description of chemical and physical characteristics of a material. This symposium is the third in a series, held every ten years, on ceramic microstructures. The first symposium, in 1966, had as a subtitle "Their Analysis, Significance and Production" and emphasized the need and importance of characterization in order to fully understand the chemical and physical properties of materials. The second Symposium, in 1976, placed emphasis on the exploration of characters most suited and needed for "Energy-Related Applications." By the time of that conference, the sequence of processing--characterization--properties was fully accepted. It was recognized that characterization was the basis of materials science; the objective of processing was to produce a desired character that was considered necessary to realize a given property or behavior. To further emphasize the importance of character, the symposium dealt primarily with the property/character coupling.

The Proceedings of the International Materials Symposium on Ceramic Microstructures '86: Role of Interfaces presents a comprehensive coverage of the past decade's advances in ceramic science and technology related to microstructures. The term microstructure is used in the broad sense and is synonymous with char~cter. Character is defined as a complete detailed description of chemical and physical characteristics of a material. This symposium is the third in a series, held every ten years, on ceramic microstructures. The first symposium, in 1966, had as a subtitle "Their Analysis, Significance and Production" and emphasized the need and importance of characterization in order to fully understand the chemical and physical properties of materials. The second Symposium, in 1976, placed emphasis on the exploration of characters most suited and needed for "Energy-Related Applications." By the time of that conference, the sequence of processing--characterization--properties was fully accepted. It was recognized that characterization was the basis of materials science; the objective of processing was to produce a desired character that was considered necessary to realize a given property or behavior. To further emphasize the importance of character, the symposium dealt primarily with the property/character coupling.

This volume, titled Proceedings of the International Materials Symposium on Ce ramic Microstructures: Control at the Atomic Level summarizes the progress that has been achieved during the past decade in understanding and controlling microstructures in ceram ics. A particular emphasis of the symposium, and therefore of this volume, is advances in the characterization, understanding, and control of micro structures at the atomic or near-atomic level. This symposium is the fourth in a series of meetings, held every ten years, devoted to ceramic microstructures. The inaugural meeting took place in 1966, and focussed on the analysis, significance, and production of microstructure; the symposium emphasized the need for, and importance of characterization in achieving a more complete understanding of the physical and chemical characteristics of ceramics. A consensus emerged at that meeting on the critical importance of characterization in achieving a more complete understanding of ceramic properties. That point of view became widely accepted in the ensuing decade. The second meeting took place in 1976 at a time of world-wide energy shortages and thus emphasized energy-related applications of ceramics, and more specifically, microstructure-property relationships of those materials. The third meeting, held in 1986, was devoted to the role that interfaces played both during processing, and in influencing the ultimate properties of single and polyphase ceramics, and ceramic-metal systems.

This text deals with the effect of processing on the microstructure and properties of advanced structural and electroceramic materials. It fulfils the need for a well illustrated book explaining the relation between microstructure and properties in structural ceramics, featuring high quality micrographs and characterization techniques.

The Proceedings of the International Materials Symposium on Ceramic Microstructures '86: Role of Interfaces presents a comprehensive coverage of the past decade's advances in ceramic science and technology related to microstructures. The term microstructure is used in the broad sense and is synonymous with char~cter. Character is defined as a complete detailed description of chemical and physical characteristics of a material. This symposium is the third in a series, held every ten years, on ceramic microstructures. The first symposium, in 1966, had as a subtitle "Their Analysis, Significance and Production" and emphasized the need and importance of characterization in order to fully understand the chemical and physical properties of materials. The second Symposium, in 1976, placed emphasis on the exploration of characters most suited and needed for "Energy-Related Applications." By the time of that conference, the sequence of processing--characterization--properties was fully accepted. It was recognized that characterization was the basis of materials science; the objective of processing was to produce a desired character that was considered necessary to realize a given property or behavior. To further emphasize the importance of character, the symposium dealt primarily with the property/character coupling.