"Furnishes a thorough presentation of crystal structure development in metals, ceramics, and polymers commonly used in materials science and engineering. Provides a unique synthesis of bonding, symmetry, and crystallographic concepts. Emphasizes the relationship between developed structures and physical properties."

'This is a book for crystal chemistry lovers written by one of the pioneers of solid-state chemistry.'MRS BulletinDevoted to a diverse group of solid state scientists, the book has two objectives, both relating to structural chemistry: (i) a progressive analytic familiarization with the main parameters that govern the organization of crystallized matter and related crystal structures, (ii) a study of what are the various ways to 'read' a structure far beyond its representation in scientific articles. Hence, the reader will, from numerous examples illustrated in color, analyze what are the main characteristics of these structures, from their geometric characteristics, their coordination polyhedra, their connections with the resulting dimensionalities of these solids, including also the defects they exhibit, before looking at possibilities to classify structures, within which recurrence laws can emerge.Chemists are required to understand the potentials of a new structure for becoming future materials scientists. The first part of the book is by no means a database for known structures, but facilitates a progressive understanding of the organization of the solid state. With these tools in hand, the reader is invited in the later part of the book to analyze new structures, and to also use new concepts for viewing structures in a more synthetic way for the future. Such new vision is already leading to the creation of completely new solids with outstanding characteristics that find applications in societal problems concerning energy, energy savings, environment and health.The content is not exclusively academic but relates to the creation of innovative materials, through a more physical approach, that might condition the future of materials.

In the last ten years, the chemistry and physics of materials with layered structures became an intensively investigated field in the study of the solid state. Research into physical properties of these crystals and especially investigations of their physical anisotropy related to the structural anisotropy has led to remarkable and perplexing results. Most of the layered materials exist in several polytypic modifications and can include stacking faults. The crystal structures are therefore complex and it became apparent that there was a great need for a review of the crystallographic data of materials approximating two-dimensional solids. This second volume in the series 'Physics and Chemistry of Materials with Layered Structures' has been written by specialists of different classes of layered materials. Structural data are reviewed and the most important relations between the structure and the chemical and physical properties are emphasized. The first three contributions are devoted to the transition metal dichalcogenides whose physical properties have been investigated in detail. The crystallographic data and crystal growth conditions are presented in the first paper. The second paper constitutes an incisive review of the phase transformations and charge density waves which have been observed in the metallic dichalcogenides. In two contributions the layered structures of newer ternary compounds are de scribed and the connection between structure and non-stoichiometry is discussed.

Suitable for undergraduate and graduate student in advanced mineralogy courses.

Elements of Structures and Defects of Crystalline Materials has been written to cover not only the fundamental principles behind structures and defects, but also to provide deep insights into understanding the relationships of properties, defect chemistry and processing of the concerned materials. Part One deals with structures, while Part Two covers defects. Since the knowledge of the electron configuration of elements is necessary for understanding the nature of chemical bonding, it is discussed in the opening chapter. Chapter Two then describes the bonding formation within the crystal structures of varied materials, with Chapter Three delving into how a material's structure is formed. In view of the importance of the effects of the structure distortion on the material properties due to the fields, the related topics have been included in section 3.4. Moreover, several materials still under intensive investigation have been illustrated to provide deep insights into understanding the effects of the relationships of processing, structures and defects on the material properties. The defects of materials are explored in Part II. Chapter 4 deals with the point defects of metal and ceramics. Chapter 5 covers the fundamentals of the characteristics of dislocations, wherein physics and the atomic mechanics of several issues have been described in detail. In view of the significant influence of the morphologies including size, shape and distribution of grains, phases on the microstructure evolution, and, in turn, the properties of materials, the final chapter focuses on the fundamentals of interface energies, including single phase (grain) boundary and interphase boundary. - Discusses the relationship between properties, defect chemistry and the processing of materials - Presents coverage of the fundamental principles behind structures and defects - Includes information on two-dimensional and three-dimensional imperfections in solids

Understandable by anyone concerned with crystals or solid state properties dependent on structure Presents a general system using simple notation to reveal similarities and differences among crystal structures More than 300 selected and prepared figures illustrate structures found in thousands of compounds

The book presents the basic information needed to understand and to organize the huge amount of known structures of crystalline solids. Its basis is crystallographic group theory (space group theory), with special emphasis on the relations between the symmetry properties of crystals.