Phase Transformations in Solids

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. The physical properties of all technologically interesting materials are strongly dependent upon their chemical composition as well as their microstructure. The most efficient way of obtaining the desirable microstructure is via accurate control of phase transformations in solids. This science constitutes the basis for chemical synthesis and thermal treatment or sintering in the processing of almost all crystalline solids. The structure resulting from a solid state phase transformation depends intimately on the crystallographic relationship between between the Bravais lattices of the initial and product phases, on the elastic moduli of the separate phases, and on the kinetics (or rate) of the transformation.