This book highlights some recent advances in interfacial research in the fields of fluid mechanics and materials science at the beginning of the twenty-first century. It is an extension of the presentations made during the conference “Interfaces for the 21st Century,” held on August 16-18, 1999, in Monterey, California. It includes papers by sixteen renowned experts in the field of interfacial mechanics, abstracts contributed by research scientists, and a summary of a panel discussion on future research directions. The book covers experimental and theoretical approaches, with the unifying philosophy being the investigation of new techniques for modeling the dynamics of interfaces. A number of new and exciting solution methods and experimental studies, as well as the physical problems that initiated them, are presented.

This journal is devoted to the advancement of the science and technology of thermophysics and heat transfer through the dissemination of original research papers disclosing new technical knowledge and exploratory developments and applications based on new knowledge. It publishes papers that deal with the properties and mechanisms involved in thermal energy transfer and storage in gases, liquids, and solids or combinations thereof. These studies include conductive, convective, and radiative modes alone or in combination and the effects of the environment.

The book describes the experimental techniques employed to study surfaces and interfaces. The emphasis is on the experimental method. Therefore all chapters start with an introduction of the scientific problem, the theory necessary to understand how the technique works and how to understand the results. Descriptions of real experimental setups, experimental results at different systems are given to show both the strength and the limits of the technique. In a final part the new developments and possible extensions of the techniques are presented. The included techniques provide microscopic as well as macroscopic information. They cover most of the techniques used in surface science.