McKeever gives us a comprehensive survey of thermoluminescence, an important, versatile, and widely-used experimental technique. Bringing together previously isolated specialized approaches, he stresses the importance of the solid state aspects of the phenomenon and links these to applications in dating, dosimetry, and geology. The book contains chapters on analysis and special properties, on instrumentation, and on the variety of defect reaction—using the alkali halides and SiO2 as examples—that can take place within a material to yield thermoluminescence. Three chapters concerning applications discuss the features of the solid state reactions to explain some of the properties observed in practice.

This revised and updated second edition of a highly successful book provides an authoritative, comprehensive and unified treatment of the mechanics and micromechanisms of fatigue in metals, nonmetals and composites. The author, a leading researcher in the field, discusses the principles of cyclic deformation, crack initiation and crack growth by fatigue, covering both microscopic and continuum aspects. The book begins with discussions of cyclic deformation and fatigue crack initiation in monocrystalline and polycrystalline ductile alloys as well as in brittle and semi-/non-crystalline solids. Total life and damage-tolerant approaches are then introduced in metals, nonmetals and composites. This will be an important reference for anyone studying fracture and fatigue in materials science and engineering, mechanical, civil, nuclear and aerospace engineering, and biomechanics.

Understanding the origin of electrical properties of alloys is critical to the development of new materials. Dr. Rossiter blends theoretical and experimental results without relying on detailed quantum mechanics. After introducing the basic concepts of atomic and magnetic correlations, he explains their microstructural consequences. Later chapters deal with the effects of such correlations on electrical resistivity. Examples and applications are given in discrete sections, which allow the uninterrupted development of theory for each specific problem.

Describes the theory and practice of infrared and Raman spectroscopy as applied to the study of the physical and chemical characteristics of polymers. Its purpose is to give the beginning researcher in the field a firm foundation and a starting point for the study of more advanced literature. To this end the book concentrates on the fundamentals of the theory and nomenclature, and on the discussion of well-documented illustrations of these fundamental principles, including many now-classic studies in the subject. No previous knowledge of either polymers or vibrational spectroscopy is assumed.

Divided roughly into two parts, the book describes the physical properties and device applications of hydrogenated amorphous silicon. The first section is concerned with the atomic and electronic structure, and covers growth defects and doping and defect reactions. The emphasis is on the optical and electronic properties that result from the disordered structure. The second part of the book describes electronic conduction, recombination, interfaces, and multilayers. The special attribute of which makes it useful is the ability to deposit the material inexpensively over large areas, while retaining good semiconducting properties, and the final chapter discusses various applications and devices.

This book addresses the issue of designing the microstructure of fiber composite materials in order to obtain optimum performance. Besides the systematic treatment of conventional continuous and discontinuous fiber composites, the book also presents the state-of-the-art of the development of textile structural composites as well as the nonlinear elastic finite deformation theory of flexible composites. The author's experience during twenty years of research and teaching on composite materials is reflected in the broad spectrum of topics covered, including laminated composites, statistical strength theories of continuous fiber composites, short fiber composites, hybrid composites, two- and three-dimensional textile structural composites and flexible composites. This book provides the first comprehensive analysis and modeling of the thermo-mechanical behavior of fiber composites with these distinct microstructures. Overall, the inter-relationships among the processing, microstructures and properties of these materials are emphasized throughout the book. The book is intended as a text for graduate or advanced undergraduate students, but will also be an excellent reference for all materials scientists and engineers who are researching or working with these materials.

This is an advanced text for higher degree materials science students and researchers concerned with the strength of highly brittle covalent-ionic solids, principally ceramics. It is a reconstructed and greatly expanded edition of a book first published in 1975. The book presents a unified continuum, microstructural and atomistic treatment of modern day fracture mechanics from a materials perspective. Particular attention is directed to the basic elements of bonding and microstructure that govern the intrinsic toughness of ceramics. These elements hold the key to the future of ceramics as high-technology materials—to make brittle solids strong, we must first understand what makes them weak. The underlying theme of the book is the fundamental Griffith energy-balance concept of crack propagation. The early chapters develop fracture mechanics from the traditional continuum perspective, with attention to linear and nonlinear crack-tip fields, equilibrium and non-equilibrium crack states. It then describes the atomic structure of sharp cracks, the topical subject of crack-microstructure interactions in ceramics, with special focus on the concepts of crack-tip shielding and crack-resistance curves, and finally deals with indentation fracture, flaws and structural reliability.

This book gives a comprehensive, integrated coverage of metal matrix composites, including the background to analytical-, experimental-, production-, and application-oriented aspects. Clear pictorial descriptions are given of the basic principles governing various properties and characteristics. These encompass mechanical, thermal, electrical, environmental, and wear behavior. Coverage also extends to material processing and component fabrication aspects and a survey of commercial usage.

This book is an authoritative and comprehensive account of the principles and practice of modern NMR spectroscopy of solid polymers to determine their structure and dynamics at a molecular level. The book deals with the development of many new NMR capabilities, including high-resolution techniques for solids, multi-dimensional methods, deuterium NMR and others. All of these developments have contributed to a dramatic increase in the power and applicability of NMR for the characterization, at a molecular level, of the dynamics and structural organization of polymeric solids. A chapter on applications emphasizes polymer types and properties, and the authors include an introduction to all the main principles of NMR involved in its application to solid polymers.

The book describes the physical basis of all of the principal and the majority of the more specialized techniques used today in studies of well-characterized solid surfaces. The techniques are grouped according to the underlying physics and are described in nine chapters. The treatment of each technique concentrates on the basic physical principles, and illustrates its use with selected examples with an emphasis on understanding the concepts. Included in each of these discussions is a view of the strengths, the weaknesses, and the complementary aspects of the individual methods. Although some mention is included of the potential use of some of the methods to study technical surfaces, the emphasis of the examples is taken from studies of the basic chemistry and physics of well-characterized surfaces under ultra-high vacuum conditions, aimed at elucidating their structural, compositional, electronic, and vibrational properties. This edition includes new material on synchrotron radiation related techniques, scanning tunnelling microscopy and spectroscopy, and Raman spectroscopy.