Shape memory materials are fascinating materials, with the potential for application as "smart materials" and also as new functional materials. This book presents a systematic and up-to-date account of all aspects of shape memory materials, from fundamentals to applications. Starting from the basic principles of the martensitic transformation, on which the shape memory effect and the superelasticity of alloys are based, the mechanisms of the two phenomena are clearly described, together with possible applications. The characteristics, fabrication techniques and thermomechanical treatment of...

This book is a translation of an important Japanese work on electronic ceramics and includes much experimental data. It will be of great interest to ceramicists and electronic engineers working with ceramic materials interested in an overview of recent Japanese research in this rapidly developing field.

This book is the first comprehensive volume on nonlinear dynamics and chaos in optical systems. A few books have been published recently, but they summarize applied mathematical methodologies toward understanding of nonlinear dynamics in laser systems with small degrees of freedom focusing on linearized perturbation and bifurcation analyses. In contrast to these publications, this book summarizes nonlinear dynamic problems in optical complex systems possessing large degrees of freedom, systematically featuring our original experimental results and their theoretical treatments. The new...