This book provides a state-of-the-art collection of recent papers on interfaces in heterogeneous ceramic systems presented at the 6th Pacific Rim Conference on Ceramic and Glass Technology (PacRim 6) in September of 2005 in Maui, Hawaii. The book is logically divided into 5 sections on interfaces, including theory and modeling, wetting phenomena, heterogeneous interfaces in high-temperature superconductors, bio-interfaces, and new developments in instrumentation that aid in the characterization of interfaces.

This collection of papers arose from the Proceedings of the International Workshop on Interfaces of Ceramic Materials held in Australia, 1993 and is a continuation of the previous book published under the same title. The objective of the Workshop was to discuss research progress on the chemistry of ceramic interfaces and related industrial aspects. Due to the multidisciplinary character of ceramic interfaces the book contains articles covering several areas of expertise, including ceramics, surface science, solid state electrochemistry, metallurgy and high temperature chemistry. Some technical papers are also included in this volume.Scientists and engineers working in these areas, as well as students in materials science and engineering, will find this book of particular significance.

The 17th University Conference on Ceramics, which also was the 7th LBL/MMRD International Materials Symposium, was held on the campus of the University of California at Berkeley from July 28 to August 1, 1980. It was devoted to the subject of surfaces and interfaces in ceramic and ceramic-metal systems. The program was timely and of great interest, as indicated by the large number of contributed papers, which included contributions from ten foreign countries. These proceedings are divided into the following categories dealing with the chemistry and physics of interfaces: calculations of interface/surface states, characterization of surfaces and inter faces, thermodynamics of interfaces, influence of surface and inter faces on selected ceramic processes, grain boundary structures, effects of grain boundaries on deformation and fracture, interfacial phenomena, formation of interfaces, development of adhesion, and reactions at interfaces. A number of papers deal specifically with the Si-Si02 interface, which probably has received more attention than any other because of its importance in the electronics industry. This coverage fulfills the principal objective of the symposium which was to explore and assess the current fundamental understand ing of interfaces and surfaces. A parallel objective of the symposium was fulfilled by a group of papers dealing with the correlation of interfacial characteris tics with mechanical behavior. This group includes papers dealing with the adherence of dissimilar materials at interfaces.

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.

A thorough understanding of interface properties is required to meet the increasing demand to develop and design advanced materials of enhanced properties for modern day technology. The significance of surfaces and interfaces in the processing and properties of ceramics is reviewed in this volume in a concentrated and accessible form. Research in this field, involving specialized experimental techniques, sophisticated experimental approaches and theoretical methods of investigations, has resulted in the formation of an independent discipline of the science of ceramic interfaces. This discipline combines several other disciplines such as surface chemistry, high temperature chemistry and ceramics. The purpose of the present volume is to bridge these disciplines and to present an overview of the state of the art in several aspects of the science of ceramic interfaces. The volume includes a collection of works, both experimental and theoretical by scientists who are experts in the field of ceramic interfaces. The book is addressed to materials scientists and engineers working in the field of ceramics, sensorics, corrosion, metallurgy, electronic technology and catalysis. The book is also recommended for students specializing in materials science and engineering.

The E-book "Nucleation and Crystallization of Glasses and Glass-Ceramics" highlights historic perspectives and current research in the field of glass-ceramic technology. Glass-ceramic technology is promising to provide us with materials of high strength, high toughness, unique electrical/electronic or magnetic properties, exceptional optical or unusual thermal or chemical properties. The greater diversity of microstructure-property arrangements and processing routes over glasses and ceramics are responsible that glass-ceramics are the preferred choice of materials in many technical, consumer, optical, medical/dental, electrical/electronic, and architectural fields. This includes increasing uses of glass-ceramic materials for environment and energy applications in the last decades. The positive development of glass-ceramic technology has become true in particular due to the pioneering spirit, resourcefulness, and courage of researchers of the first generation. Extraordinary and, therefore, to be distinguished is the work of the glass-ceramic inventor S. Donald Stookey to whom this Research Topic is dedicated. The authors, all experts in the field of glass-ceramics and based in industry, academia and governmental institutions, contributed to this E-book under the guidance of the Technical Committee 07 "Crystallization and Glass-Ceramics" of the International Commission on Glass (ICG).

Although ceramics have been known to mankind literally for millennia, research has never ceased. Apart from the classic uses as a bulk material in pottery, construction, and decoration, the latter half of the twentieth century saw an explosive growth of application fields, such as electrical and thermal insulators, wear-resistant bearings, surface coatings, lightweight armour, or aerospace materials. In addition to plain, hard solids, modern ceramics come in many new guises such as fabrics, ultrathin films, microstructures and hybrid composites. Built on the solid foundations laid down by the 20-volume series Materials Science and Technology, Ceramics Science and Technology picks out this exciting material class and illuminates it from all sides. Materials scientists, engineers, chemists, biochemists, physicists and medical researchers alike will find this work a treasure trove for a wide range of ceramics knowledge from theory and fundamentals to practical approaches and problem solutions.