Characterization of Materials

Abstract

The 2nd edition of this leading reference work is now available with a foreword by condensed-matter physicist, educator, and scientific community leader, Dr. Shirley Jackson, President of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). In addition, it has been thoroughly updated and expanded to cover the field’s many advances over the decade since the publication of the first edition. It covers materials characterization techniques ranging from the more mature mechanical, thermal and electrical testing methods to those state-of-the-art beam-based methods employed at large scientific user facilities around the world. The ever increasing role of computation to predict and understand materials properties is supported by an updated chapter on computational and theoretical methods as well. First published in 2003, Characterization of Materials quickly established itself as a leading reference among professionals who wanted a concise but comprehensive guide to finding the best characterization technique for the project at hand. With this second edition, you also get the latest on advances in instrumentation, techniques and analysis. More powerful characterization tools have arisen in many areas including all forms of scanning probe microscopes, more powerful x-ray sources, a completely new generation of electron microscopes, improved ways of using neutrons and neutron polarization, and far more robust computing power for modeling and simulation. Several articles reveal how these improved tools enabled characterization of entirely new types of materials, including nano-materials from quantum dots to nano-photonics to nano-composites, studies of spintronics- and quantum-computing-related systems, and the extension of materials characterization techniques into areas that blur the boundaries between physics, chemistry and biology, to name a few. The 2nd edition is also available as a 3-volume print set. Review from the 1st edition: "Overall the set contains important and concise descriptions of techniques that are otherwise very difficult to find…Highly recommended..." -Choice