Preface

Summary

Content

This book explains the thermodynamics and kinetics of most of the important phase transitions in materials science. It is a textbook, so the emphasis is on explanations of phenomena rather than a scholarly assessment of their origins. The goal is explanations that are concise, clear, and reasonably complete. The level and detail are appropriate for upper division undergraduate students and graduate students in materials science and materials physics. The book should also be useful for researchers who are not specialists in these fields. The book is organized for approximately linear coverage in a graduate-level course. The four parts of the book serve different purposes, however, and should be approached differently.

Part I presents topics that all graduate students in materials science must know. After a general overview of phase transitions, the statistical mechanics of atom arrangements on a lattice is developed. The approach uses a minimum amount of information about interatomic interactions, avoiding detailed issues at the level of electrons. Statistical mechanics on an Ising lattice is used to understand alloy phase stability for basic behaviors of chemical unmixing and ordering transitions. This approach illustrates key concepts of equilibrium T–c phase diagrams, and is extended to explain some kinetic processes. Essentials of diffusion, nucleation, and their effects on kinetics are covered in Part I.