This book is dedicated to the fundamental physical aspects of stability, the influence of structural defects on the properties and structural phase transformations of BCC alloys. The authors present patterns that occur in the structural-phase states of functional alloys with low stability or instability under thermal cycling effects. Structural-phase transformations and the physical laws governing the influence of the thermomechanical effect on the properties of alloys are examined to advance development of technological processes for processing functional materials. Features: Studies the correlation between structural phase states and changes in the physico-mechanical properties of intermetallic compounds Explores the influence of thermomechanical cycling on the properties of functional alloys Details low-stability pretransition states in alloys

This book presents the results of research on the regularities during thermocyclic impact on changes in structural-phase states of functional alloys with low-stability or instability in the area of structural-phase transformations. Without clarification of the physical regularities of the influence of thermomechanical impact on the properties of alloys, it is impossible to develop technological processes of processing functional materials; therefore, the book widely uses the results of many years of research by the authors of the book. It is known that critical temperatures and stresses for martensitic transformation, for example, B 2↔︎ B 19′, in NiTi are very sensitive to cycling. The study of structural-phase states, corresponding to changes in physical-mechanical properties of intermetallics in the area of transformations, is a necessary aspect of understanding the nature of the influence of thermomechanical cycling on the properties of functional alloys. This book is dedicated to the fundamental physical aspects of stability, the influence of structural defects on properties and structural-phase transformations of FCC alloys. This book is useful for a wide range of specialists—scientific researchers and engineers, working in the field of materials science and physics of condensed systems, as well as teachers, postgraduates and students, specializing in the field of materials science.

This open access book introduces the science of the new materials, soft crystals, by showing various interesting examples. Different from conventional hard and stable crystals, the soft crystals respond to gentle stimuli such as vapor exposure and rubbing but maintain their structural order. In this book, their exhibition of remarkable visual changes in their shape, color, and luminescence is described. Through the chapters, historical background, recent remarkable developments, and future prospects are described concisely. This book helps readers to understand a new concept of materials that have the characteristics of stimulus-sensitive soft matter and finely controlled crystals and to design novel materials with the characteristics. The English translation of this book from its Japanese language original manuscript was done with the help of artificial intelligence (machine translation by the service DeepL.com). The text has subsequently been revised further by a professional copy editor in order to refine the work stylistically.