The increasing worldwide energy consumption calls for the design of more efficient energy systems. Thermoelectrics could be used to convert waste heat back to useful electric energy if only more efficient materials were available. The ideal thermoelectric material combines high electrical conductivity and thermopower with low thermal conductivity. In this regard, the intermetallic type-I clathr...

The high plasticity of metallic glasses is highly desirable for a wide range of novel engineering applications. However, the physical origin of the ductile/brittle behaviour of metallic glasses with various compositions and thermal histories has not been fully clarified. Here we have found that metallic glasses with compositions at or near intermetallic compounds, in contrast to the ones at or ...

The binary intermetallic clathrates K8-xSi46 (x = 0.4; 1.2), Rb6.2Si46, Rb11.5Si136 and Cs7.8Si136 were prepared from M₄Si₄ (M = K, Rb, Cs) precursors by spark-plasma route (SPS) and structurally characterized by Rietveld refinement of PXRD data. The clathrate-II phase Rb11.5Si136 was synthesized for the first time. Partial crystallographic site occupancy of the alkali metals, particularly for ...

Binary titanium alloys with the beta-stabilizing elements of Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn and Pd (up to 30%) and Ag (up to 45%) were examined through metallographic observation and X-ray diffractometry to determine whether beta phases that are advantageous for dental use could be retained. Corrosion behavior was also investigated electrochemically and discussed thermodynamically. Some cast alloys with Co...

In this work we compare the microstructures of intermetallic compounds (IMCs) in electrochemically stripped solder joints created by two different soldering methods (vapor phase soldering (VPS), and selective laser soldering with a CO2 laser). After the selective removal of the Sn phase with amperometry, the microstructure and structural composition of the IMC can be revealed in a detailed way,...

Intermetallic phases have been known as a realm of “endless wonders”, whose expansion can be tracked first through the thick volumes of Pearson’s Handbook of Crystal Data on Intermetallic Phases of the 1990s to online crystal structure databases whose scale is measurable only in disk space. The structural data in these resources has shaped many of our views about the solid state. For example, w...