The mineral resources of the industrialized countries, especially the member nations of the North Atlantic Treaty Organiza tion, are being depleted at such a rate that more and more of these count ries are beginning to depend on ore imported from other coun tries. To sustain the economic and strategie well-being of these member countries, it becomes imperative that a program of developing and exploiting other non-conventional mineral resources and a con servation program where metal values from waste dumps and scrap metals and alloys are recycled must be initiated and implemented. In order to meet this challenge, new processes and technology must be available for consideration in the design and operation of the new plants. One of the possible routes of extracting the metals from their ores, especially for multimetal complex ores and very low grade ores, is by hydrometallurgical processing. The hydrometallurgical route of metal recovery where dissolution (leaching), separation and concentration (ion exchange, solvent extraction, and membrane separation) and reduction to metal (cementation, precipitation by gaseous reduction, and electrolysis) is carried out at near ambient temperature is becoming more competi tive with the conventional high temperature processes used in the smelting of metals from high grade and beneficiated ores.

Jonathan Scragg documents his work on a very promising material suitable for use in solar cells. Copper Zinc Tin Sulfide (CZTS) is a low cost, earth-abundant material suitable for large scale deployment in photovoltaics. Jonathan pioneered and optimized a low cost route to this material involving electroplating of the three metals concerned, followed by rapid thermal processing (RTP) in sulfur vapour. His beautifully detailed RTP studies - combined with techniques such as XRD, EDX and Raman - reveal the complex relationships between composition, processing and photovoltaic performance. This exceptional thesis contributes to the development of clean, sustainable and alternative sources of energy

This monograph describes mathematical models that enable prediction of phase compositions for various technological processes, as developed on the base of a complex physico-chemical analysis of reaction. It studies thermodynamics and kinetics of specific stages of complex pyrometallurgical processes involving boron, carbon, sulfur, tungsten, phosphorus, and many more, as well as their exposure to all sorts of factors.

First and foremost, this enables to optimize processes and technologies at the stage of design, while traditional empirical means of development of new technologies are basically incapable of providing an optimal solution. Simulation results of metals and alloys production, welding and coating technologies allow obtaining materials with pre-given composition, structure and properties in a cost-saving and conscious manner. Moreover, a so-called "inverse problem," i.e., selecting source materials which would ensure the required results, cannot be solved by any other means.

High-technology and environmental applications of the rare-earth elements (REE) have grown dramatically in diversity and importance over the past four decades. This book provides a scientific understanding of rare earth properties and uses, present and future. It also points the way to efficient recycle of the rare earths in end-of-use products and efficient use of rare earths in new products. Scientists and students will appreciate the book's approach to the availability, structure and properties of rare earths and how they have led to myriad critical uses, present and future. Experts should buy this book to get an integrated picture of production and use (present and future) of rare earths and the science behind this picture. This book will prove valuable to.non-scientists as well in order to get an integrated picture of production and use of rare earths in the 21st Century, and the science behind this picture.

The book describes the valorization of biomass-derived compounds over gold catalysts. Since biomass is a rich renewable feedstock for diverse platform molecules, including those currently derived from petroleum, the interest in various transformation routes has become intense. Catalytic conversion of biomass is one of the main approaches to improving the economic viability of biorefineries. In addition, Gold catalysts were found to have outstanding activity and selectivity in many key reactions. This book collects information about transformations of the most promising and important compounds derived from cellulose, hemicelluloses, and woody biomass extractives. Since gold catalysts possess high stability under oxidative conditions, selective oxidation reactions were discussed more thoroughly than other critical reactions such as partial hydrogenation, acetalization, and isomerization. The influence of reaction conditions, the role of the catalyst, and the advantages and disadvantages of using gold are presented for all of the reactions mentioned above. This book provides an overview of the recent research results focusing on application of gold catalysts for synthesis of valuable chemicals using renewable feedstocks.

The first International Conference on Thermoelectric Properties of Metallic Conductors was held at Michigan State University on August 10-12, 1977. The conference was sponsored and supported by the National Science Foundation, the Office of Naval Research and the Ford Motor Company. Although the topic may appear, at first glance, rather narrow and of limited interest, it impacts significantly on numerous fields of research, in each instance providing a unique and fru- ful technique for securing important data that is frequently difficult to obtain by other means. Thus, though thermoelectricity is the thread that binds these pages together, the papers constitute a patchwork quilt that includes critical phenomena, superconductivity, many-body theory, quasi one-dimensional systems, liquid metals, to mention only a few. This volume contains the 12 invited and 31 contributed papers, arranged in the order in which they were presented, as well as much of the frequently spirited and always illuminating discussion that followed these papers. Regrettably, not all of the discussion is included. Difficulties with the recording system during the first session (Wednesday morning) did not become apparent before the end of that session, and, consequently, none of the discussion--some of it fairly heated--appears in the proceedings; other remarks were lost to posterity through occasional malfunctioning of the record ing facilities and/or failure of speakers to come near a microphone."

The rare earths have a unique place among the elements. Although very much alike chemically and in most phy ical properties they each have very different and striking magnetic properties. The reason, of course, lies in their 4f electrons which determine the magnetic properties but have little effect on other chemical and physical behaviour. Although they are not rare, some indeed are among the more common heavy elements in the earth's crust, the difficulty of separation has meant that their intricate magnetic properties have only recently been unravelled. Now, however, the general pattern of their magnetism is well charted and the underlying theory is well understood. Both are thoroughly summarised in this book. It provides an excellent example of the kind of extensive synthesis which is possible with modem solid state physics. it represents only a high plateau in the ascent to complete understanding. But It will become clear to the reader that while the overall position is satisfactory there are many details still to be elucidated experimentally and much to be done theoretically before all the underlying forces are identified and estimated from a priori calculations. It is hoped that the book will provide a useful stimulus in this direction. It should also be of use to those who are interested in related disciplines, for example the rare earth compounds, or the transition metals. In addition rare earths promise to be important technologically as alloy constituents.

Industrial advances frequently depend on the development of new, special-purpose ma terials possessing specific magnetic, electrical, optical, strength, friction, antifriction, and other properties. Metal alloys produced by the conventional technique of metallurgical reduc tion often do not meet these new requirements. Powder metallurgy, therefore, is of consider able importance in solving many problems of present-day materials science. Its production techniques-solid-phase and liquid-phase sintering, impregnation, hot pressing - make it pos, ... sible to obtain materials from metallic components which are immiscible in the liquid state and also materials in which metals are combined with nonmetallic components such as refract ory compounds- oxides, carbides, nitrides, borides, sUicides, sulfides, etc. The properties of sintered parts depend essentially on the processes occurring during their formation. One of the most promising methods of producing sintered materials of high density with the best combination of various properties is liquid-phase sintering. In recent years, many publications have appeared concerning processes of sintering specific combinations of com ponents, the theoretical basis of liquid-phase sintering, and the laws governing this process. The present work examines liquid-phase sintering processes and the action of capillary forces in models of dispersed solid-liquid systems, and also gives data from theoretical and experi mental studies of liquid-phase sintering in various metal and metal-ceramic systems. Some theoretical generalizations on the principles of sintering processes are presented, and the driv ing forces of sintering and the effect of different conditions on liquid-phase sintering processes are considered."

The focus of this thesis is the computational modelling of transition metal bimetallic (nanoalloy) clusters. More specifically, the study of Pd-Pt, Ag-Pt, Au-Au and Pd-Au as a few tens of atoms in the gas phase. The author used a combination of global optimization techniques - coupled with a Gupta-type empirical many-body potential - and Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations to study the structures, bonding and chemical ordering, as well as investigate the chemisorptions of hydrogen and carbon monoxide on bimetallic clusters. This research is highly relevant to experimental catalytic studies and has resulted in more than seven publications in international journals.

In this, the only book available to combine both theoretical and practical aspects of x-ray diffraction, the authors emphasize a "hands on" approach through experiments and examples based on actual laboratory data. Part I presents the basics of x-ray diffraction and explains its use in obtaining structural and chemical information. In Part II, eight experimental modules enable the students to gain an appreciation for what information can be obtained by x-ray diffraction and how to interpret it. Examples from all classes of materials -- metals, ceramics, semiconductors, and polymers -- are included. Diffraction patterns and Bragg angles are provided for students without diffractometers. 192 illustrations.

Fermi Surfaces of Low-Dimensional Organic Metals and Superconductors is an introduction to quasi-one- and quasi-two-dimensional organic metals and a review of the current knowledge on the electronic structure of these materials. The principal structural, electronic, and superconducting properties are described and illustrated with many examples. The book introduces the basic theoretical concepts necessary for the understanding of the experimental techniques and reviews in detail recent results in the investigation of the Fermi surface topology. The book is intended both as an introduction and as a reference book for active researchers.

Electrometallurgy is a broad field but it is not a new one. It was the great Faraday in the 1830s who discovered laws covering the electrodeposition of metals and its relation to the current passed and equivalent weight of the metal undergoing depo- tion. Since that time, applications and developments of his discoveries have spread to many areas of technology. Electrowinning is the most well known, partly because it embraces the process by which aluminum is extracted from its ores. In electrorefining, the impure metal is made into anode and the pure metal dissolved therefrom is deposited on a cathode. Electroplating is exemplified by its use in the manufacture of car bumpers. Finally, in electroreforming, objects may be metallized, often with a very thin layer of the coating desired. The numerous technologies vary greatly in the degree to which they are intell- tualized. Until the work of Popov et al. , electrometallurgy has been regarded as largely empirical, an activity in which there was much art and little science. This will all change with the publication of this book. Several aspects of the background of its senior author, Konstantin Popov, make him uniquely suited to the job of intellectual- ing electrometallurgy. First, he had as his mentor the great surely the leading electrochemist in Eastern Europe since the death of Frumkin. Second, he has had ample experience with the leading electrochemical engineer in America, Ralph White.

The increasing use of powder metallurgy techniques to make an almost infinite variety of materials and products places greater emphasis on utilization of sophisticated experimental techniques. Usually research and development efforts initiate the use of newly developed equipment and analytical procedures. Indeed, the contents of this book are strongly linked to research endeavors, in both the academic and industrials worlds. However, this volume can serve a much needed function in industrial applied powder metallurgy. Although many research ers will find the contents of great value, the technical personnel more involved with production, quality control, customer services and product design now have at their dispo sal a means to learn about the potential uses of several very important techniques. With today's "knowledge explosion" the present set of papers greatly facilitates the comprehension and adoption of new procedures. If powder metallurgy is to continue its rapid rate of growth in virtually all segments of industry, then the transition of modern equipment and procedures from tools of research and development laboratories to everyday plant operations and applications must be hastened. The editors hope that this volume aids in this process, as well as assisting students and researchers by providing a ready source of up-to-date useful information.

Stereology is the science that relates three-dimensional structure to the two-dimensional images that can be measured. The most common field of application is in microscopy, both of man-made materials (metals, ceramics, composites, etc.) and of biological tissue samples. This book covers the applications and terminology of both fields. Recent emphasis in stereology is concerned with sampling strategies to avoid bias due to directionality and non-uniformity, and these methods are fully covered. So are the classic techniques that measure size distributions, surface curvature, etc., which are widely useful but not discussed in other recent texts. Finally, most stereology is taught as manual procedures using counting and grids, but this text also covers the use of modern desktop computers for image analysis and processing to obtain and interpret the stereological data.

This volume, the proceedings of a 1998 international workshop, provides experimental evidence of the effects of correlation on the physical, chemical, and mechanical properties of materials, as well as the theoretical/computational methodology that has been developed for their study.