One of the most effective methods of increasing the wear resistance, hardness, surface strength and high-temperature oxidation resistance of metals and alloys is the diffusion satu ration of the surfaces by metals and nonmetals. For communicating and discussing the results of the numerous researches carried out in this field in the Department of PJ: tysicotechnical Problems of Materials Science, Academy of Sciences of the UkrSSR, a permanent Scientific Seminar was set up in 1961, which enjoys an ever-increasing popularity among specialists in this field. The present collection contains papers...

The book we are presenting to American and other English- speaking readers is a review of the work on the electron struc- ture of elements, alloys, and compounds, which was started back in the fifties. This work gradually grew into a system of ideas on the electron structure of condensed matter which is now known as the configurational model. This model is based on the assumption of the preferential formation of the most stable configurations of the localized va- lence electrons in condensed matter. The existence of these stable configurations and the exchange of electrons with the de-...

The present stage of technological development makes new and ever more complex demands on materials that have to work under conditions of high temperature and pressure, in high vacuum, and in corrosive media. In consequence special importance is now at- tached to the refractory compounds of transition metals of groups IV to VI with such nonmetals as boron, carbon, silicon, and nitro- gen. These compounds possess high melting points, great hard- ness, and high refractory and corrosion-resisting properties. The most widely used and important compounds of this type from a technological point of...