High Performance Non Oxide Ceramics I

The nitrides and carbides of boron and silicon are proving to be an excellent choice when selecting materials for the design of devices that are to be employed under particularly demanding environmental and thermal con- tions. The high degree of cross-linking, due to the preferred coordination numbers of the predominantly covalently bonded constituents equalling or exceeding three, lends these non-oxidic ceramics a high kinetic stability, and is regarded as the microscopic origin of their impressive thermal and mechanical durability. Thus it does not come as a surprise that the chemistry, the physical properties and the engineering of the corresponding binary, ternary, and even quaternary compounds have been the subject of intensive and sustained efforts in research and development. In the five reviews presented in the volumes 101 and 102 of "Structure and Bonding" an attempt has been made to cover both the essential and the most recent advances achieved in this particular field of materials research. The scope of the individual contributions is such as to address both graduate students, specializing in ceramic materials, and all scientists in academia or industry dealing with materials research and development. Each review provides, in its introductory part, the chemical, physical and, to some extent, historical background of the respective material, and then focuses on the most relevant and the most recent achievements.

The nitrides and carbides of boron and silicon are proving to be an excellent choice when selecting materials for the design of devices that are to be employed under particularly demanding environmental and thermal con- tions. The high degree of cross-linking, due to the preferred coordination numbers of the predominantly covalently bonded constituents equalling or exceeding three, lends these non-oxidic ceramics a high kinetic stability, and is regarded as the microscopic origin of their impressive thermal and mechanical durability. Thus it does not come as a surprise that the chemistry, the physical properties and the engineering of the corresponding binary, ternary, and even quaternary compounds have been the subject of intensive and sustained efforts in research and development. In the five reviews presented in the volumes 101 and 102 of "Structure and Bonding" an attempt has been made to cover both the essential and the most recent advances achieved in this particular field of materials research. The scope of the individual contributions is such as to address both graduate students, specializing in ceramic materials, and all scientists in academia or industry dealing with materials research and development. Each review provides, in its introductory part, the chemical, physical and, to some extent, historical background of the respective material, and then focuses on the most relevant and the most recent achievements.

The nitrides and carbides of boron and silicon are proving to be an excellent choice when selecting materials for the design of devices that are to be employed under particularly demanding environmental and thermal con- tions. The high degree of cross-linking, due to the preferred coordination numbers of the predominantly covalently bonded constituents equalling or exceeding three, lends these non-oxidic ceramics a high kinetic stability, and is regarded as the microscopic origin of their impressive thermal and mechanical durability. Thus it does not come as a surprise that the chemistry, the physical properties and the engineering of the corresponding binary, ternary, and even quaternary compounds have been the subject of intensive and sustained efforts in research and development. In the five reviews presented in the volumes 101 and 102 of "Structure and Bonding" an attempt has been made to cover both the essential and the most recent advances achieved in this particular field of materials research. The scope of the individual contributions is such as to address both graduate students, specializing in ceramic materials, and all scientists in academia or industry dealing with materials research and development. Each review provides, in its introductory part, the chemical, physical and, to some extent, historical background of the respective material, and then focuses on the most relevant and the most recent achievements.

The nitrides and carbides of boron and silicon are proving to be an excellent choice when selecting materials for the design of devices that are to be employed under particularly demanding environmental and thermal con- tions. The high degree of cross-linking, due to the preferred coordination numbers of the predominantly covalently bonded constituents equalling or exceeding three, lends these non-oxidic ceramics a high kinetic stability, and is regarded as the microscopic origin of their impressive thermal and mechanical durability. Thus it does not come as a surprise that the chemistry, the physical properties and the engineering of the corresponding binary, ternary, and even quaternary compounds have been the subject of intensive and sustained efforts in research and development. In the five reviews presented in the volumes 101 and 102 of "Structure and Bonding" an attempt has been made to cover both the essential and the most recent advances achieved in this particular field of materials research. The scope of the individual contributions is such as to address both graduate students, specializing in ceramic materials, and all scientists in academia or industry dealing with materials research and development. Each review provides, in its introductory part, the chemical, physical and, to some extent, historical background of the respective material, and then focuses on the most relevant and the most recent achievements.

"Corrosion of High-Performance Ceramics" is a comprehensive survey of the state of the art of this new field of research. It presents the first generalized description of the corrosion of engineering ceramics and its effect on their mechanical properties (based on Si3N4, SiC, AlN, B4C, BN, Al2O3, ZrO2). Researchers, engineers and graduate students are provided with a guide to the performance of non-oxide and oxide ceramicsin corrosive environments. Keywords: high-temperature oxidation; hot corrosion; corrosion in acids, alkalis and molten salts; effects of corrosion on the physico-mechanical properties of ceramics; stress corrosion; corrosion protection; development of oxidation-resistant ceramics; role of purity, donations and microstructure.

E. Clot, O. Eisenstein: Agostic Interactions from a Computational Perspective: One Name, many Interpretations.- Robert J. Deet: Recent Developments in Computational Bioinorganic Chemistry.- E. Ruiz: Theoretical Study of the Exchange Coupling in Large Polynuclear Transition Metal Complexes Using DFT Methods.- D. Sánches-Portal, P. Ordejón, E. Canadell: Computing the Properties of Materials from First Principles with SIESTA.- F. Corà, M. Alfredsson, G. Mallia, D.S. Middlemiss, W.C. Mackrodt, R. Dovesi, R. Orlando: The Performance of Hybrid Density Functionals in Solid State Chemistry

It is difficult to overestimate the impact that density functional theory has had on computational quantum chemistry over the last two decades. Indeed, this period has seen it grow from little more than a theoreticalcuriosity to become a central tool in the computational chemist s armoury. Arguably no area of ch- istry has benefited more from the meteoric rise in density functional theory than inorganic chemistry. the ability to obtainreliable results in feasible ti- scales on systems containing heavy elements such as the d and f transition - tals has led to an enormous growth in computational inorganic chemistry. The inorganic chemical literature reflects this growth; it is almost impossible to open a modern inorganic chemistry journal without finding several papers devoted exclusively or in part to density functional theory calculations. The real imp- tance of the rise in density functional theory in inorganic chemistry is undou- edly the much closer synergy between theory and experiment than was p- viously posible. In these volumes, world-leading researchers describe recent developments in the density functional theory and its applications in modern inorganic and b- inorganic chemistry. These articles address key issues key issues in both sol- state and molecular inorganic chemistry, such as spectroscopy, mechanisms, catalysis, bonding and magnetism. The articles in volume I are more focussed on advances in density functional methodogy, while those in Volume II deal more with applications, although this is by no means a rigid distinction.