Author Archives: Guru
Classics in Materials Science: Shockley and Read’s dislocation models of crystal grain boundaries
Any crystalline material contains many defects. Depending on the topology of the defects, they can be classified as point, line, surface and volume defects. Of these, only point defects are equilibrium defects — that is, at any temperature above absolute … Continue reading
On computer simulations in materials science
The conventional analytical treatment of actual systems can in fact only be successfully performed in the simplest cases. It fails when a more or less realistic model of multiphase alloys in considered. As a matter of fact, computer simulation is … Continue reading
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Classics in Materials Science: Potts model and its relevance to simulation of microstructures
A soap bubble is an extraordinarily beautiful thing and yet it requires virtually no skill to produce. This is because surface tension does all the work for you, making sure that a perfect spherical membrane is produced every time. In … Continue reading
A phase transition called traffic jam
… this is actually a pretty familiar scenario for particle physicists, who are used to studying phase transitions, such as the transformation of liquid water into solid ice. In this case, the critical threshold is temperature, which triggers clusters of … Continue reading
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On computers and their use
The metallurgists should stop doing now what the computers can do. The metallurgists should concern themselves with applying the thermodynamic principles to phase equilibria, but they should rely on computers in carrying out the mathematics. This will reduce considerably the … Continue reading
Classics in Materials Science: Harper’s experiments with Snoek pendulum
Introduction Dislocations are one type of defect in a crystalline solid; they distort the crystalline lattice around them; these distortions around a dislocation in a crystal could be dilatational (the distance between planes is more than what it should be) … Continue reading
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Materials miscellany: cast-iron guarantee
S Upendran, in today’s Know Your English edition of the Hindu explains the expression.
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Tagged cast-iron guarantee
Classics in materials science: Vegard’s law of linear relationship between lattice parameter and alloy composition
Let us consider a pure metal, say copper; let us consider the case in which we remove some copper atoms and substitute for them with gold atoms; since gold atoms are slightly bigger than copper atoms, it is natural to … Continue reading
Posted in Classics
Tagged alloys, composition, L Vegard, lattice parameter, solid solution, stoichiometry, The Giant's Shoulders, Vegard's law
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Nature wants you to blog
The journal Nature, that is — in an editorial available here: More researchers should engage with the blogosphere, including authors of papers in press. Is blogging a part of science, journalism or public discourse? In fact it may be all … Continue reading
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Why materials scientists should celebrate the insights of Darwin
An article in Nature Materials tells why (which piece, for some of you, unfortunately, might be behind pay wall); to give a flavour of the piece: Trees avoid sharp-cornered notches by growing wood in a shape that reduces concentrations of … Continue reading
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