Since the 1997 Kyoto protocol of reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, the development of novel refrigerators has been a priority within the scientific community. Although magnetocaloric materials are promising candidates, they still need a large magnetic field to induce a giant ΔT as well as powerful and costly magnets. However, in electrocaloric materials (ECMs) a temperature change may be achieved by applying or removing an electric field. Since a giant electrocaloric effect on ferroelectric thin films was reported in Science in 2006, researchers have been inspired to explore such effect in different ferroelectric thin films. This book reviews electrocaloric effects observed in bulk materials as well as recent promising advances in thin films, with special emphasis on the ferroelectric, antiferroelectric and relaxor nature of ECMs. It reports a number of considerations about the future of ECMs as a means of achieving an efficient, ecologically sustainable and low cost refrigerator.

Advances in Polymer Science enjoys a longstanding tradition and good reputation in its community. Each volume is dedicated to a current topic, and each review critically surveys one aspect of that topic, to place it within the context of the volume. The volumes typically summarize the significant developments of the last 5 to 10 years and discuss them critically, presenting selected examples, explaining and illustrating the important principles, and bringing together many important references of primary literature. On that basis, future research directions in the area can be discussed. Advances in Polymer Science volumes thus are important references for every polymer scientist, as well as for other scientists interested in polymer science - as an introduction to a neighboring field, or as a compilation of detailed information for the specialist.

The book is devoted to the problem of microgeometry properties and anisotropy relations in modern piezo-active composites. These materials are characterized by various electromechanical properties and remarkable abilities to convert mechanical energy into electric energy and vice versa. Advantages of the performance of the composites are discussed in the context of the orientation effects, first studied by the authors for main connectivity patterns and with due regard to a large anisotropy of effective piezoelectric coefficients and electromechanical coupling factors. The novelty of the book consists in the systematization results of orientation effects, the anisotropy of piezoelectric properties and their role in forming considerable hydrostatic piezoelectric coefficients, electromechanical coupling factors and other parameters in the composites based on either ferroelectric ceramic or relaxor-ferroelectric single crystals.

This book delivers a deep insight into thermal polymer degradation features and put a particular emphasis on blends, composites and nanocomposites. It examines the thermal stability and the mechanism of degrading for every class of polymer substances and studies the effect on reinforcement to all classes. The book further explores the thermal stability when nano particles are added and summarizes the latest studies and application relevant results. This book offers a valuable reference source to graduate and post graduate students, engineering students, research scholars and polymer engineers from industry.

This book presents the latest advances in ultrafast science, including both ultrafast optical technology and the study of ultrafast phenomena. It covers picosecond, femtosecond, and attosecond processes relevant to applications in physics, chemistry, biology, and engineering. Ultrafast technology has a profound impact in a wide range of applications, amongst them biomedical imaging, chemical dynamics, frequency standards, material processing, and ultrahigh-speed communications. This book summarizes the results presented at the 19th International Conference on Ultrafast Phenomena and provides an up-to-date view of this important and rapidly advancing field.

Advances in Polymer Science enjoys a longstanding tradition and good reputation in its community. Each volume is dedicated to a current topic, and each review critically surveys one aspect of that topic, to place it within the context of the volume. The volumes typically summarize the significant developments of the last 5 to 10 years and discuss them critically, presenting selected examples, explaining and illustrating the important principles, and bringing together many important references of primary literature. On that basis, future research directions in the area can be discussed. Advances in Polymer Science volumes thus are important references for every polymer scientist, as well as for other scientists interested in polymer science - as an introduction to a neighboring field, or as a compilation of detailed information for the specialist.

This unique book covers the fundamental principle of electron diffraction, basic instrumentation of RHEED, definitions of textures in thin films and nanostructures, mechanisms and control of texture formation, and examples of RHEED transmission mode measurements of texture and texture evolution of thin films and nanostructures. Also presented is a new application of RHEED in the transmission mode called RHEED pole figure technique that can be used to monitor the texture evolution in thin film growth and nanostructures and is not limited to single crystal epitaxial film growth. Details of the construction of RHEED pole figures and the interpretation of observed pole figures are presented. Materials covered include metals, semiconductors, and thin insulators. This book also: Presents a new application of RHEED in the transmission mode Introduces a variety of textures from metals, semiconductors, compound semiconductors, and their characteristics in RHEED pole figures Provides examples of RHEED measurements of texture and texture evolution, construction of RHEED pole figures, and interpretation of observed pole figures RHEED Transmission Mode and Pole Figures: Thin Film and Nanostructure Texture Analysis is ideal for researchers in materials science and engineering and nanotechnology.

Experimental and Applied Mechanics, Volume 4 of the Proceedings of the 2015SEM Annual Conference& Exposition on Experimental and Applied Mechanics, the fourth volume of nine from the Conference, brings together contributions to important areas of research and engineering. The collection presents early findings and case studies on a wide range of topics, including: Advanced Methods for Frontier Applications, Non-Homogeneous Parameters Identification, Teaching Experimental Mechanics in the 21st Century, Material Characterization and Testing, Mechanics of Interfaces Novel Applications of Experimental Mechanics

Maximizing reader insights into the use of thermography, specifically pulsed and pulse phase thermography (PT and PPT), for the identification of kissing defects in adhesive bonds, this thesis focuses on the application of PT and PPT for the identification of a range of defect types in a variety of materials to establish the effect of material properties on identification of defects. Featuring analysis of a numerical model developed to simulate the thermal evolution created during a PT or PPT experiment, after validation through a series of case studies, this model is then used as a predictive tool to relate defect detectability to the thermal property contrast between defect and bulk materials. Demonstrating a means of producing realistic kissing defects in bonded joints where insufficient thermal property contrast exists defects have a limited effect on heat propagation through a component and therefore are not detected using PT or PPT, this thesis discusses the addition of a small load to bonds containing kissing defects which was found to open the defects sufficiently to enable their detection. A low cost infrared detector, Flir Tau320, is compared to the research based photon detector, Flir SC5000, and is shown to be suitable for application in PT, thus enabling a significantly lower cost tool to be developed.

This thesis presents a series of mechanical test methods and comprehensively investigates the deformation and damage behavior of Cu/Pb-free solder joints under different loading conditions. The fracture behavior of Pb-free joint interfaces induced by stress, deformation of solder and substrate are shown, the shear fracture strength of the Cu6Sn5 IMC is measured experimentally for the first time, and the dynamic damage process and microstructure evolution behavior of Pb-free solder joints are revealed intuitively. The thesis puts forward the argument that the local cumulative damage is the major cause of failure in solder joints. The research results provide the experimental and theoretical basis for improving the reliability of solder joints.

This book comprises 96 peer-reviewed contributions submitted to the 10th ICAM Congress, held in Trondheim, Norway on 01-05 August 2011. Themes covered include: 1) Advanced materials, including high-performance technical ceramics and glasses, 2) Analytical techniques, instrumentation and automation, 3) Bio-mimetic mineral materials, medical mineralogy, 4) Construction materials including cement/SCMs, concrete, bricks, tiles, screeds, 5) Cultural heritage, stone artifacts and preservation, 6) Environment and energy mineralogy, including CO2 sequestration, 7) Geometallurgy and process mineralogy, and 8) Industrial minerals including gems, ore minerals, and mineral exploration.

ZnO has been the central theme of research in the past decade due to its various applications in band gap engineering, and textile and biomedical industries. In nanostructured form, it offers ample opportunities to realize tunable optical and optoelectronic properties and it was also termed as a potential material to realize room temperature ferromagnetism. This book presents 17 high-quality contributory chapters on ZnO related systems written by experts in this field. These chapters will help researchers to understand and explore the varied physical properties to envisage device applications of ZnO in thin film, heterostructure and nanostructure forms.

This book presents and introduces ellipsometry in nanoscience and nanotechnology making a bridge between the classical and nanoscale optical behaviour of materials. It delineates the role of the non-destructive and non-invasive optical diagnostics of ellipsometry in improving science and technology of nanomaterials and related processes by illustrating its exploitation, ranging from fundamental studies of the physics and chemistry of nanostructures to the ultimate goal of turnkey manufacturing control. This book is written for a broad readership: materials scientists, researchers, engineers, as well as students and nanotechnology operators who want to deepen their knowledge about both basics and applications of ellipsometry to nanoscale phenomena. It starts as a general introduction for people curious to enter the fields of ellipsometry and polarimetry applied to nanomaterials and progresses to articles by experts on specific fields that span from plasmonics, optics, to semiconductors and flexible electronics. The core belief reflected in this book is that ellipsometry applied at the nanoscale offers new ways of addressing many current needs. The book also explores forward-looking potential applications.

The present book covers the application technology of lasers, focusing more on the vast range of processes than on individual applications, in order to motivate and enable future innovations. The physical basics are presented in the first half of the book. The following examination of application categories and their processes is documented by experts from their practical points of view but always refers back to the underlying physical principles. In this way, readers are free to choose their own individual level of depth in understanding this globally relevant field of innovation.

Conservation Science is a rather innovative application of instrumental analysis with steadily increasing importance. Although the first attempts for preserving material from the cultural heritage on a scientific basis are found in the 19th century pioneer chemistry years, only the use of sophisticated physicochemical techniques results in effective identification and deterioration studies of monuments and objects, and in reliable intervention procedures. This volume allows to gain solid knowledge and improved skills on the ways separation schemes and diagnostic methodologies are applied in the safeguarding and authentication of tangible works of art; as well as on the modes of implementing novel safeguarding practices built on well-established principles - such as the use of laser in the decontamination of objects. All techniques are covered at a state-of-the-art level; while selected applications permit addressing major groups of materials and artefacts. Conservation Science is nowadays taught at master's level in all developed countries, and museum laboratories increasingly adopt scientific approaches in their restoration initiatives. The book is intended as a valuable tool for students and professionals active in these frames. In addition, it provides an indispensable manual for participants in the specialized intensive courses, which are systematically offered by the authors under the auspices of the relevant European network.

This book covers the complete spectrum of the fundamentals of clocked, regenerative comparators, their state-of-the-art, advanced CMOS technologies, innovative comparators inclusive circuit aspects, their characterization and properties. Starting from the basics of comparators and the transistor characteristics in nanometer CMOS, seven high-performance comparators developed by the authors in 120nm and 65nm CMOS are described extensively. Methods and measurement circuits for the characterization of advanced comparators are introduced. A synthesis of the largely differing aspects of demands on modern comparators and the properties of devices being available in nanometer CMOS, which are posed by the so-called nanometer hell of physics, is accomplished. The book summarizes the state of the art in integrated comparators. Advanced measurement circuits for characterization will be introduced as well as the method of characterization by bit-error analysis usually being used for characterization of optical receivers. The book is compact, and the graphical quality of the illustrations is outstanding. This book is written for engineers and researchers in industry as well as scientists and Ph.D students at universities. It is also recommendable to graduate students specializing on nanoelectronics and microelectronics or circuit design.

This book covers a wide range of topics in fracture and damage mechanics. It presents historical perspectives as well as recent innovative developments, presented by peer reviewed contributions from internationally acknowledged authors. The volume deals with the modeling of fracture and damage in smart materials, current industrial applications of fracture mechanics, and it explores advances in fracture testing methods. In addition, readers will discover trends in the field of local approach to fracture and approaches using analytical mechanics. Scholars in the fields of materials science, engineering and computational science will value this volume which is dedicated to Meinhard Kuna on the occasion of his 65th birthday in 2015. This book incorporates the proceedings of an international symposium that was organized to honor Meinhard Kuna's contributions to the field of theoretical and applied fracture and damage mechanics.

This book investigates the stability and vibrations of conductive, perfectly conductive and superconductive thin bodies in electromagnetic fields. It introduces the main principles and derives basic equations and relations describing interconnected mechanical and electromagnetic processes in deformable electro conductive bodies placed in an external inhomogeneous magnetic field and under the influence of various types of force interactions. Basic equations and relations are addressed in the nonlinear formulation and special emphasis is placed on the mechanical interactions of superconducting thin-body plates with magnetic fields.

Topological Insulators (TIs) are insulators in the bulk, but have exotic metallic states at their surfaces. The topology, associated with the electronic wavefunctions of these systems, changes when passing from the bulk to the surface. This work studies, by means of infrared spectroscopy, the low energy optical conductivity of Bismuth based TIs in order to identify the extrinsic charge contribution of the bulk and to separate it from the intrinsic contribution of the surface state carriers. The extensive results presented in this thesis definitely shows the 2D character of the carriers in Bismuth-based topological insulators. The experimental apparatus and the FTIR technique, the theory of optical properties and Surface Plasmon Polaritons, as well as sample preparation of both crystals and thin films, and the analysis procedures are thoroughly described.

This book gives a brief but thorough introduction to the fascinating subject of non-Newtonian fluids, their behavior and mechanical properties. After a brief introduction of what characterizes non-Newtonian fluids in Chapter 1 some phenomena characteristic of non-Newtonian fluids are presented in Chapter 2. The basic equations in fluid mechanics are discussed in Chapter 3. Deformation kinematics, the kinematics of shear flows, viscometric flows, and extensional flows are the topics in Chapter 4. Material functions characterizing the behavior of fluids in special flows are defined in Chapter 5. Generalized Newtonian fluids are the most common types of non-Newtonian fluids and are the subject in Chapter 6. Some linearly viscoelastic fluid models are presented in Chapter 7. In Chapter 8 the concept of tensors is utilized and advanced fluid models are introduced. The book is concluded with a variety of 26 problems. Solutions to the problems are ready for instructors

Photoelectron spectroscopy is now becoming more and more required to investigate electronic structures of various solid materials in the bulk, on surfaces as well as at buried interfaces. The energy resolution was much improved in the last decade down to 1 meV in the low photon energy region. Now this technique is available from a few eV up to 10 keV by use of lasers, electron cyclotron resonance lamps in addition to synchrotron radiation and X-ray tubes. High resolution angle resolved photoelectron spectroscopy (ARPES) is now widely applied to band mapping of materials. It attracts a wide attention from both fundamental science and material engineering. Studies of the dynamics of excited states are feasible by time of flight spectroscopy with fully utilizing the pulse structures of synchrotron radiation as well as lasers including the free electron lasers (FEL). Spin resolved studies also made dramatic progress by using higher efficiency spin detectors and two dimensional spin detectors. Polarization dependent measurements in the whole photon energy spectrum of the spectra provide useful information on the symmetry of orbitals. The book deals with the fundamental concepts and approaches for the application of this technique to materials studies. Complementary techniques such as inverse photoemission, photoelectron diffraction, photon spectroscopy including infrared and X-ray and scanning tunneling spectroscopy are presented. This book provides not only a wide scope of photoelectron spectroscopy of solids but also extends our understanding of electronic structures beyond photoelectron spectroscopy.

This textbook offers readers an introduction to fracture mechanics, equipping them to grasp the basic ideas of the presented approaches to modeling in applied mechanics In the first part, the book reviews and expands on the classical theory of elastic and elasto-plastic material behavior. A solid understanding of these two topics is the essential prerequisite to advancing to damage and fracture mechanics. Thus, the second part of this course provides an introduction to the treatment of damage and fractures in the context of applied mechanics Wherever possible, the one-dimensional case is first introduced and then generalized in a following step. This departs somewhat from the more classical approach, where first the most general case is derived and then simplified to special cases. In general, the required mathematics background is kept to a minimum Tutorials are included at the end of each chapter, presenting the major steps for the solution and offering valuable tips and tricks. The supplementary problems featured in the book

The minimum temperature in the natural universe is 2.7 K. Laboratory refrigerators can reach temperatures in the microkelvin range. Modern industrial refrigerators cool foods at 200 K, whereas space mission payloads must be capable of working at temperatures as low as 20 K. Superconducting magnets used for NMR work at 4.2 K. Hence the properties of materials must be accurately known also at cryogenic temperatures. This book provides a guide for engineers, physicists, chemists, technicians who wish to approach the field of low-temperature material properties. The focus is on the thermal properties and a large spectrum of experimental cases is reported. The book presents updated tables of low-temperature data on materials and a thorough bibliography supplements any further research. Key Features include: Degrees Detailed technical description of experiments Degrees Description of the newest cryogenic apparatus Degrees Offers data on cryogenic properties of the latest new materials Degrees Current reference review

This book introduces anisotropic innovations in liquid crystalline polymers as well as new nanocomposite materials and testing techniques. The authors detail the newest discoveries of material properties, material types and phases, and material characterization. This interdisciplinary work creates valuable links that strengthen the approach to the evolving field of liquid crystalline polymers/ materials.

Experimental Mechanics of Composite, Hybrid, and Multifunctional Materials, Volume 7 of the Proceedings of the 2015SEM Annual Conference& Exposition on Experimental and Applied Mechanics, the seventh volume of nine from the Conference, brings together contributions to this important area of research and engineering. The collection presents early findings and case studies on a wide range of areas, including: Multifunctional Materials Hybrid Materials Novel Composites Nano- and Particle-Reinforced Composites Additive Manufacturing of Composites Digital Imaging of Composites Damage Detection Non-Destructive Evaluation Fatigue and Fracture of Composites Manufacturing and Joining of Composites Advanced Composites Applications