- Email: [email protected]
Mass transport in solids
119
Atomistics of Fracture NA TO Conference Series, Series VI, Materials Science, Vol. 5;edited by R. M. Latanision and J. R. Pickens; published by Plenum, New York, 1983; 1074 pp.; price, U.S. $115.00
Large in size at 1074 pages and comparably large in price at U.S. $115, Atomistics of Fracture is almost as large in its scope. If I was disappointed at all with this book it would be in the fact that the title does not give a completely accurate picture of the contents. The book contains the Proceedings of a NATO Advanced Research Institute held in 1981 with the same name as the title so that its title was predetermined. In actuality, the major theme of the book is environmentally assisted fracture, considered at the atomic level, with a significant a m o u n t of space devoted to surface reactivity and bonding as well as to solution chemistry in addition to discussions of fracture itself. Since the book follows the organization of the institute, we have the planning committee of that conference, chaired by Dr. R. M. Latanision, to thank for the excellent organization. The first two-thirds of the book is devoted to tutorial lectures in five major categories: fracture of materials, surface reactivity and bonding, interfaces, solution chemistry, and new concepts in the atomistics of fracture. There are 21 lectures in all on these topics preceded by three overview lectures. The lecture papers are by scientists all well known in their particular field, providing not only good coverage for the subject of their own lecture on one of the fundamental aspects of fracture or environmental effects but also, together with the remainder of the attendees, a thoughtful and provocative group of discussers. It is the discussion and replies that are included after every paper that frequently give the reader insight into alternative views of some details of the subject. Following the tutorial papers, most of the remainder of the book covers the four major areas of environmentally assisted fracture: hydrogen embrittlement, intergranular embrittlement, liquid metal embrittlement and stress corrosion cracking. Each topic is keynoted by at least one invited lecture followed by several contributed papers. An additional
feature is a summary discussion of each of the four embrittlement areas by a group of the attendees, some of whom are active in areas outside the particular area under discussion. These summaries focus on the critical features of each form of embrittlement, the key problem areas and the type of future research that should prove most useful in shedding light on these problems. The final few pages of the book are devoted to a conference summary and three broadbased contributed discussions. There is also an index, which is rather brief considering the size and scope of the volume; however, the excellent organization of the material in the book does not demand an exhaustive index. I would recommend this book to all those interested in fracture, particularly of the types on which the book concentrates. If the price makes a personal copy out of reach, at least a recommendation to an organization library to purchase a copy is in order. Although the coverage of the topic is not as " p a t " as seen through the eyes of a single author, the depth and breadth of the coverage of these topics are certainly beyond the capability of any single individual investigator. HARRY C. ROGERS
Department of Materials Engineering Drexel University Philadelphia PA 19104 U.S.A. Mass Transport in Solids
Proceedings of NA TO Advanced Study Institute; edited by F. B~ni~re and C. R. A. Catlow; published by Plenum, New York, 1983; 602 pp.; price, U.S. $85.OO
It takes the student a certain a m o u n t of time to adjust to the fact that atoms in solids can execute violent enough vibrations to change sites and to cause diffusion. There are a variety of different mechanisms by which these changes in position can occur, the dominant mechanism often depending on subtle differences in the properties of the solid that influence the type of defect that is most common and/or most easily moved. The determi-
120 nation of these mechanisms is as interesting a puzzle as any found in the study of solids and involves a varied mixture of experimental techniques, theoretical analysis and enlightened intuition. Mass Transport in Solids contains the Proceedings of a NATO Advanced Study Institute held in Lannion, France, in the summer of 1981. Essentially all aspects of diffusion in all solids are touched on, although the primary interest is ionic conductors, and the articles are concerned almost entirely with non-metals. One aim of the editors, and one in which they have been successful, is to provide good papers on an extremely wide range of topics. Thus, at the end, one finds wellwritten papers on the relevant aspects of superionic conductors, corrosion, heterogeneous catalysis and surface effects. In so far as "schools" are discernible, the authors are primarily British and French, and many have spent time at Harwell. The authors know their subject very well. However, the question here is who might be interested in the book that they have produced to memorialize their 2 weeks together. Since all aspects of diffusion in all solids are touched on, the authors clearly had to make decisions about what to include and what to omit. For example, in 34 pages the article on diffusion in metals (by G. Brebec) touches on all known effects and provides a good summary of relevant equations and representative data. Neutron scattering studies of diffusion (by R. E. Lechner) and the techniques of diffusion (by F. B~ni~re) are treated at the same level. By far the largest group of authors chose to develop in some detail a topic of particular
interest to them because they are doing original work in that area. A. B. Lidiard develops what he calls "a kinetic t h e o r y " formalism as an alternative to the random walk approach and uses it to treat relaxation and diffusion in dilute binary solutions. P. W. M. Jacobs discusses obtaining the best fit of ionic conductivity data, while Dieter Wolf treats correlation effects with particular emphasis on the advantages of the encounter model. An approach that is more rare, but to me most interesting, is the treatment of diffusion in semiconductors by J. C. Pfister. He assumes that the reader will go elsewhere for a detailed treatment of the topic and instead provides a description of interesting effects which he feels are still poorly understood. The resulting book is one that is a joy to browse through, if y o u already have a reasonable knowledge of the field and want to see what the authors feel is new in their topics. The book is also one that provides a good starting point if you require a list of review articles on a topic, or as a source of references from a different subset of authors. I would not recommend it to a beginning graduate student as a text. On this basis I would recommend the book highly for a university library and for serious consideration by scholars or research workers in diffusion. P. G. S H E W M O N
Department of Metallurgical Engineering The Ohio State University Columbus OH 43210 U.S.A.
Atomistics of Fracture NA TO Conference Series, Series VI, Materials Science, Vol. 5;edited by R. M. Latanision and J. R. Pickens; published by Plenum, New York, 1983; 1074 pp.; price, U.S. $115.00
Large in size at 1074 pages and comparably large in price at U.S. $115, Atomistics of Fracture is almost as large in its scope. If I was disappointed at all with this book it would be in the fact that the title does not give a completely accurate picture of the contents. The book contains the Proceedings of a NATO Advanced Research Institute held in 1981 with the same name as the title so that its title was predetermined. In actuality, the major theme of the book is environmentally assisted fracture, considered at the atomic level, with a significant a m o u n t of space devoted to surface reactivity and bonding as well as to solution chemistry in addition to discussions of fracture itself. Since the book follows the organization of the institute, we have the planning committee of that conference, chaired by Dr. R. M. Latanision, to thank for the excellent organization. The first two-thirds of the book is devoted to tutorial lectures in five major categories: fracture of materials, surface reactivity and bonding, interfaces, solution chemistry, and new concepts in the atomistics of fracture. There are 21 lectures in all on these topics preceded by three overview lectures. The lecture papers are by scientists all well known in their particular field, providing not only good coverage for the subject of their own lecture on one of the fundamental aspects of fracture or environmental effects but also, together with the remainder of the attendees, a thoughtful and provocative group of discussers. It is the discussion and replies that are included after every paper that frequently give the reader insight into alternative views of some details of the subject. Following the tutorial papers, most of the remainder of the book covers the four major areas of environmentally assisted fracture: hydrogen embrittlement, intergranular embrittlement, liquid metal embrittlement and stress corrosion cracking. Each topic is keynoted by at least one invited lecture followed by several contributed papers. An additional
feature is a summary discussion of each of the four embrittlement areas by a group of the attendees, some of whom are active in areas outside the particular area under discussion. These summaries focus on the critical features of each form of embrittlement, the key problem areas and the type of future research that should prove most useful in shedding light on these problems. The final few pages of the book are devoted to a conference summary and three broadbased contributed discussions. There is also an index, which is rather brief considering the size and scope of the volume; however, the excellent organization of the material in the book does not demand an exhaustive index. I would recommend this book to all those interested in fracture, particularly of the types on which the book concentrates. If the price makes a personal copy out of reach, at least a recommendation to an organization library to purchase a copy is in order. Although the coverage of the topic is not as " p a t " as seen through the eyes of a single author, the depth and breadth of the coverage of these topics are certainly beyond the capability of any single individual investigator. HARRY C. ROGERS
Department of Materials Engineering Drexel University Philadelphia PA 19104 U.S.A. Mass Transport in Solids
Proceedings of NA TO Advanced Study Institute; edited by F. B~ni~re and C. R. A. Catlow; published by Plenum, New York, 1983; 602 pp.; price, U.S. $85.OO
It takes the student a certain a m o u n t of time to adjust to the fact that atoms in solids can execute violent enough vibrations to change sites and to cause diffusion. There are a variety of different mechanisms by which these changes in position can occur, the dominant mechanism often depending on subtle differences in the properties of the solid that influence the type of defect that is most common and/or most easily moved. The determi-
120 nation of these mechanisms is as interesting a puzzle as any found in the study of solids and involves a varied mixture of experimental techniques, theoretical analysis and enlightened intuition. Mass Transport in Solids contains the Proceedings of a NATO Advanced Study Institute held in Lannion, France, in the summer of 1981. Essentially all aspects of diffusion in all solids are touched on, although the primary interest is ionic conductors, and the articles are concerned almost entirely with non-metals. One aim of the editors, and one in which they have been successful, is to provide good papers on an extremely wide range of topics. Thus, at the end, one finds wellwritten papers on the relevant aspects of superionic conductors, corrosion, heterogeneous catalysis and surface effects. In so far as "schools" are discernible, the authors are primarily British and French, and many have spent time at Harwell. The authors know their subject very well. However, the question here is who might be interested in the book that they have produced to memorialize their 2 weeks together. Since all aspects of diffusion in all solids are touched on, the authors clearly had to make decisions about what to include and what to omit. For example, in 34 pages the article on diffusion in metals (by G. Brebec) touches on all known effects and provides a good summary of relevant equations and representative data. Neutron scattering studies of diffusion (by R. E. Lechner) and the techniques of diffusion (by F. B~ni~re) are treated at the same level. By far the largest group of authors chose to develop in some detail a topic of particular
interest to them because they are doing original work in that area. A. B. Lidiard develops what he calls "a kinetic t h e o r y " formalism as an alternative to the random walk approach and uses it to treat relaxation and diffusion in dilute binary solutions. P. W. M. Jacobs discusses obtaining the best fit of ionic conductivity data, while Dieter Wolf treats correlation effects with particular emphasis on the advantages of the encounter model. An approach that is more rare, but to me most interesting, is the treatment of diffusion in semiconductors by J. C. Pfister. He assumes that the reader will go elsewhere for a detailed treatment of the topic and instead provides a description of interesting effects which he feels are still poorly understood. The resulting book is one that is a joy to browse through, if y o u already have a reasonable knowledge of the field and want to see what the authors feel is new in their topics. The book is also one that provides a good starting point if you require a list of review articles on a topic, or as a source of references from a different subset of authors. I would not recommend it to a beginning graduate student as a text. On this basis I would recommend the book highly for a university library and for serious consideration by scholars or research workers in diffusion. P. G. S H E W M O N
Department of Metallurgical Engineering The Ohio State University Columbus OH 43210 U.S.A.