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Introduction to the Modem Theory of Metals Alan Cottrell (The Institute of Metals, London, 1988), approx. 260 pages. ISBN: 0-904357-97-X
This is a broadly based tutorial overview of the physics of metals, based on their electronic structure. The book aims to bridge the gap between the physics and materials science communities. While the théories treated go back as far as the beginning of the century most of the discussion centers on developments within the last 30 years. The complementary free-electron and tight-binding paradigms for the electronic structure are given extensive discussion, with more emphasis on the freeelectron approach. The first chapter introduces the origins of both metallic and insulating behavior from several points of view, including the one-electron band picture, electronelectron interactions, and the dielectric theory. Localization effects are discussed as well. Several succeeding chapters discuss the rationale for treating metals as free-electron materials. The topics include the weak ionic pseudopotential, screening effects, and a brief account of Fermi liquid theory. This discussion leads into a treatment of cohésion in simple metals based on the Wigner-Seitz method and the pseudopotential theory. The energetics of several types of imperfect configurations, including vacancies, stacking faults, and liquids are described within this picture. Cohésion in transition metals is subsequently treated via simple square-band models of the electronic density of states in tight-binding models, as well as more detailed approaches describing structural énergies. Corrections to the simple tightbinding theory based on more quantitative calculations are described. The last three chapters emphasize three types of metallic pioperties: alloy heats of formation, surface électron distributions, and superconductivity. The HumeRothery rules for alloy formation are described, along with more récent calculations seeking to provide justification for them. Simplified d-band pictures appropriate for transition metals, and the empirical "Miedema" theory, are also presented. Surface énergies and work functions are treated within the context of both "jellium" and tight-binding théories. In addition, surface geometries and adsorption are briefly discussed. The last chapter outlines the BCS theory of superconductivity, and describes possible mechanisms of high température superconductivity.
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A very attractive feature of this book is its emphasis on the interface between physics and materials science. Thus, defect properties and empirical approaches are treated in more détail than in most comparable books. Méthodologies which are useful in treating defect problems, such radial interatomic forces, are described and, where possible justified. The treatment of the moment method for tight-binding models is also a welcome inclusion. Unfortunately, the widely used "embedded-atom" method is omitted. The theoretical treatment is given a strong observational background, which makes for very enjoyable reading. The level of th
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