Atomic bonding in solids: primary interatomic bonds and secondary bonding. Structure of crystalline materials: Bravais lattices, crystallographic points, lines and planes; structures of metals and structures of ceramics; X-Ray diffraction and Bragg's Law. Amorphous materials.
Imperfections in real materials. Point defects: intrinsic and extrinsic point defects, equilibrium concentration of point defects in metals and in metal oxides, chemical equations of defects. Line defects: dislocations. Surface defects. Volumetric defects. Thermally activated processes and diffusion in solids. Mechanisms of diffusion. Laws of diffusion. Diffusion coefficient. Practical application of diffusion. Mechanical properties of materials: elastic and plastic deformation; plastic deformation of metal single crystals and of polycrystalline metals. Mechanisms of strengthening of metals. Ductile and brittle fracture. Creep. Phase diagrams. Gibbs phase rule. Phase diagrams of pure substances. Binary phase diagrams: binary isomorphous systems, binary eutectic systems, binary peritectic systems. Cooling curve. Lever rule. Development of microstructure. Phase transformations: nucleation and crystal growth; homogeneous and heterogeneous nucleation.
