It is well known that the grain size of a material controls its properties, including mechanical strength, electrical conduction, and corrosion resistance. Typically, a fine grain size is desirable, since it allows for these properties to be increased. Nanocrystalline materials have been engineered in order to maximize the benefits associated with this fine grain size. Unfortunately, the high density of grain boundaries for a given volume of the material leads to an increase in the excess energy that is associated with grain boundaries. This excess energy can act as a driving force for grain growth, which causes these nanocrystalline structures to be unstable, with this grain growth often times being detrimental to the material properties. This research investigated the influence of grain boundary mobility and the applied driving force on grain growth in nanocrystalline metal films by focusing on the role grain boundary misorientation plays in regulating grain growth. The was be accomplished by completing two types of studies: (i) Annealing sputter-deposited thin films to study mobility in a case where the driving force is assumed to be dominated by grain boundary curvature and (ii) Mechanically indenting thin films with different microstructural features while submerged in liquid nitrogen. In terms of the latter study, the mobility was expected to be extremely low due to the cryogenic temperatures. Both sets of films were then characterized using precession-enhanced diffraction-based orientation analysis in the transmission electron microscope to quantify the evolution in grain size, grain morphology, and in the grain-to-grain misorientation.

Nanostructured materials have at least one dimension in the nanometer range. They became a very active research area in solid state physics and chemistry in recent years with anticipated applications in various domains, including solar cells, electronics, batteries and sensors. Nanocrystalline metals and oxides are dense polycrystalline solids with a mean grain size below 100 nm. This book is intended to give an overview on selected properties and applications of nanocrystalline metals and oxides by leading experts in the field. The first three chapters provide a very complete theoretical treatment of thermodynamics and atom/ion transport for nanocrystalline materials. The following chapters are experts' views on the development of experimental characterization techniques for nanocrystalline solids with emphasis on electroceramic materials. Nanocrystalline Metals and Oxides is intended for a broad range of readers, foremost chemists, physicists and materials scientists. Theoretical physicists and chemists will certainly also profit from this book. The electroceramics and solid state ionics community are particularly addressed, given the main interests of the editors.

Corrosion is an expensive and potentially dangerous problem in many industries. The potential application of different nanostructured materials in corrosion protection, prevention and control is a subject of increasing interest. Corrosion protection and control using nanomaterials explores the potential use of nanotechnology in corrosion control.The book is divided into two parts. Part one looks at the fundamentals of corrosion behaviour and the manufacture of nanocrystalline materials. Chapters discuss the impact of nanotechnology in reducing corrosion cost, and investigate the influence of various factors including thermodynamics, kinetics and grain size on the corrosion behaviour of nanocrystalline materials. There are also chapters on electrodeposition and the corrosion behaviour of electrodeposited nanocrystalline materials. Part two provides a series of case studies of applications of nanomaterials in corrosion control. Chapters review oxidation protection using nanocrystalline structures at various temperatures, sol- gel and self-healing nanocoatings and the use of nanoreservoirs and polymer nanocomposites in corrosion control.With its distinguished editors and international team of expert contributors, Corrosion protection and control using nanomaterials is an invaluable reference tool for researchers and engineers working with nanomaterials in a variety of industries including, aerospace, automotive and chemical engineering as well as academics studying the unique protection and control offered by nanomaterials against corrosion. - Explores the potential use of nanotechnology and nanomaterials for corrosion prevention, protection and control - Discusses the impact of nanotechnology in reducing corrosion cost and investigates various factors on the corrosion behaviour of nanocrystalline materials - Provides a series of case studies and applications of nanomaterials for corrosion control