Description:

This book, with analytical solutions to 260 select problems, is primarily designed for the second year core course on materials science. The treatment of the book reflects the author’s experience of teaching this course comprehensively at IIT-Kanpur for a number of years to the students of engineering and 5-year integrated disciplines.

The problems have been categorised into five sections covering a wide range of solid state properties. Section 1 deals with the dual representation of a wave and a particle and then comprehensively explains the behaviour of particles within potential barriers. It provides solutions to the problems that how the energy levels of a free atom lead to the formation of energy bands in solids. The statistics of the distribution of particles in different energy states in a solid has been detailed leading to the derivation of Maxwell–Boltzmann, Bose–Einstein, and Fermi–Dirac statistics and their mutual relationships. Quantitative derivation of the Fermi energy has been obtained by considering free electron energy distribution in solids and then considering Fermi–Dirac distribution as a function of temperature. The derivation of the Richardson’s equation and the related work function has been quantitatively dealt with. The phenomenon of tunnelling has been dealt with in terms of quantum mechanics, whereas the band structure and electronic properties of materials are given quantitative treatment by using Fermi–Dirac distribution function.

Section 2 deals with the nature of the chemical bonds, types of bonds and their effect on properties, followed by a detailed presentation of crystal structures of some common materials and a discussion on the structures of C60 and carbon nanotubes. Coordination and packing in crystal structures are considered next followed by a detailed X-ray analysis of simple crystal structures, imperfections in crystals, diffusion, phase equilibria, and mechanical behaviour.

Section 3 deals with thermal and electrical properties and their mutual relationships. Calculations of Debye frequency, Debye temperature, and Debye specific heat are presented in great detail. A brief section on superconductivity considers both the conventional and the high–TC superconductors.

Sections 4 and 5 deal with the magnetic and dielectric materials, considering magnetic properties from the point of view of the band theory of solids. Crystal structures of some common ferrites are given in detail. Similarly, the displacement characteristics in dielectrics are considered from their charge displacements giving rise to some degree of polarization in the materials.