Recent developments in advanced ceramics are critically evaluated in respect to their thermal shock and thermal fatigue behavior from an interdisciplinary viewpoint by leading experts. The book covers the aspects of material development, mechanical and fracture mechanical models and experimental testing methods. Special emphasis is given to the influence of a rising crack resistance on the thermal shock behavior, novel irradiation testing methods for a quantitative characterization of the thermal shock and fatigue loading as well as detailed fracture mechanical models for single and multiple...

The book deals with the theory, experiments and applications of the main topical areas of applied magnetism. These selected areas include the physics of magnetic recording, magnetic and magnetooptic recording devices, systems and media, magnetic fine particles, magnetic separation, domains and domain walls in soft magnetic materials, permanent magnets, magnetoresistance, thin film magnetooptics, and finally, microwave, optical and computational magnetics. The material is organised into ten self-contained chapters which together provide a comprehensive coverage of the subject of applied...

Success in the fabrication of structures at the nanometer length scale has opened up a new horizon to condensed matter physics: the study of quantum phenomena in confined boxes, wires, rings, etc. A new class of electronic devices based on this physics has been proposed, with the promise of a new functionality for ultrafast and/or ultradense electronic circuits. Such applications demand highly sophisticated fabrication techniques, the crucial one being lithography.
Nanolithography contains updated reviews by major experts on the well established techniques -- electron beam...

Among the many intense light sources, excimer lasers have a unique set of properties that place them at the forefront of tooling for material processing. Their extreme versatility means that they can be used in many areas of materials science and medicine. But three conditions need to be fulfilled in order that their versatility be truly appreciated and exploited: the characteristics and limitations of the sources must be known; the basic excimer laser processes should become reasonably widely known; and problems in search of a solution should be clearly identified.
Excimer...

Urban seismic risk is growing worldwide and is, increasingly, a problem of developing countries. In 1950, one in four of the people living in the world's fifty largest cities was earthquake-threatened, while in the year 2000, about one in two will be. Further, ofthose people living in earthquake-threatened cities in 1950, about two in three were located in developing countries, while in the year 2000, about nine in ten will be. Unless urban seismic safety is improved, particularly in developing countries, future earthquakes will have ever more disastrous social and economic consequences. In...

The chapters of this book are based upon lectures presented at the NATO Advanced Study Institute on Membrane Processes in Separation and Purification (March 21 - April 2, 1993, Curia, Portugal), organized as a successor and update to a similar Institute that took place 10 years ago (p.M.Bungay, H.K. Lonsdale, M.N. de Pinho (Eds.): Synthetic Membranes: Science, Engineering and Applications, NATO ASI Series, Reidel, Dordrecht, 1986). The decade between the two NATO Institutes witnesses the transition from individually researched membrane processes to an applied and established membrane...

If one surveys the development of wind engineering, one comes to the conclusion that the challenge of urban climatology is one of the most important remaining tasks for the wind engineers. But what distinguishes wind engineering in urban areas from conventional wind engineering? Principally, the fact that the effects studied are usually unique to a particular situation, requiring consideration of the surroundings of the buildings. In the past, modelling criteria have been developed that make it possible to solve environmental problems with great confidence, and studies validated the models:...

Interest in the study of early European cultures is growing. These cultures have left us objects made of gold, other metals and ceramics. The advent of metal detectors, coupled with improved analytical techniques, has increased the number of findings of such objects enormously. Gold was used for economic and ceremonial purposes and thus the gold objects are an important key to our understanding of the social and political structures, as well as the technological achievements, of Bronze and Iron Age European societies.
A correct interpretation of the information provided by gold and...

The development of advanced materials with preselected properties is one of the main goals of materials research. Of especial interest are electronics, high-temperature and supemard materials for various applications, as well as alloys with improved wear, corrosion and mechanical resistance properties. The technical challenge connected with the production of these materials is not only associated with the development of new specialised preparation techniques but also with quality control. The energetic charged particle, electron and photon beams offer the possibility of modifying the...

Electroceramic thin films hold out the promise of applications in entirely new generations of advanced microdevices that may revolutionise technology, creating multibillion dollar markets in the process. Less glamorous than the high-temperature superconductors, but probably just as important, are electrically conductive, ferroelectric, piezoelectric, pyroelectric, electro-optic, and magnetic films. The list of potential applications of films having these properties is virtually endless, but there are still some issues to be resolved before fully functioning devices reach the market. All these...