Phase Equilibria, Phase Diagrams and Phase Transformations: Their Thermodynamic Basis

By Mats Hillert

Book Overview

Computational tools allow material scientists to model and analyze increasingly complicated systems to appreciate material behavior. Accurate use and interpretation however, requires a strong understanding of the thermodynamic principles that underpin phase equilibrium, transformation and state. This fully revised and updated edition covers the fundamentals of thermodynamics, with a view to modern computer applications. The theoretical basis of chemical equilibria and chemical changes is covered with an emphasis on the properties of phase diagrams. Starting with the basic principles, discussion moves to systems involving multiple phases. New chapters cover irreversible thermodynamics, extremum principles, and the thermodynamics of surfaces and interfaces. Theoretical descriptions of equilibrium conditions, the state of systems at equilibrium and the changes as equilibrium is reached, are all demonstrated graphically. With illustrative examples - many computer calculated - and worked examples, this textbook is an valuable resource for advanced undergraduates and graduate students in materials science and engineering.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0521853516
• ISBN13: 9780521853514
• Release Date: December 2007
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Length: 526 Pages
• Weight: 2.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 7.2" x 9.9"

Customer Reviews

Very Abstract Thermodynamics

This is a highly abstract and technical textbook, probably not well suited for self-study. Most students will need an instructor's help to highlight and clarify the key points, and also provide exercises and problem sets. The author's examples, all with explanatory solutions provided and scattered through the text, deal mainly with theoretical issues. There are many instances in which concrete examples would be helpful. For instance, the author spends much time distinguishing different kinds of variables, without ever specifying just what physical units would be involved. (Unusually for a text in thermodynamics, there are no tables of thermodynamic values and, except for moles, physical units are rarely mentioned.) Examples tend to be drawn from metallurgy rather than petrology, and there is considerable discussion of gases. In the first few chapters the organization is sometimes weak; the later chapters are better organized, but mainly in virtue of exhaustive completeness. There is some repetition (not necessarily a vice), and the index is far from complete when it comes to repeated discussions of topics. Some passages are not as clear as they could be due to less than pellucid English grammar (especially with regard to the difference between restrictive and nonrestrictive relative clauses). Cambridge University Press could have provided better editing (and better printing too: in my copy the typeface was faint or washed out in places).