The tribological study of materials inherently involves the interaction of surface asperities at the micro to nanoscopic length scales. This is the case for large scale engineering applications with sliding contacts, where the real area of contact is made up of small contacting asperities that make up only a fraction of the apparent area of contact. This is why researchers have sought to create...

ÐDevelopments in the ®eld of magnetic materials which show promise for future applications are reviewed. In particular recent work in nanocrystalline materials is reviewed, with either soft or hard behavior as well as advances in the magnetic materials used for magnetic recording. The role of microstructure on the extrinsic magnetic properties of the materials is stressed and it is emphasized h...

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Solar photovoltaics have great promise for a low-carbon future but remain expensive relative to other technologies. Greatly increased penetration of photovoltaics into global energy markets requires an expansion in attention from designs of high-performance to those that can deliver significantly lower cost per kilowatt-hour. To evaluate a new set of technical and economic performance targets, ...

This paper proposes an advanced micromechanical model that introduces an intermediate scale (mesoscopic scale): elementary hexagonal patterns of adjoining particles. This is a breakthrough with respect to current micromechanical models that generally describe the material by a single distribution of contacts. In essence, such models can incorporate a variety of local physical mechanisms. In thi...

The success of computer-aided design (CAD) tools in engineering design has been witnessed in the past four decades. Advanced CAD tools have become a critical enabling technology in product design since they help build virtual prototypes of complex products (e.g. automobiles, airplanes, and electronic appliances). In today’s CAD-enabled design processes, design engineers select availablematerial...

The International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS) projects that the spatial resolution of features in integrated circuits will eventually be well at nanoscopic dimensions. As a result, there is, presently, an active interest in the design of nano-scale circuit elements such as transistors, resistors, and “capacitors”. As with all circuit elements, the materials for fabrication of n...

Granular material s display a certain number of properties that have long been observed but only partially understood. Some resemble the properties of solids, some resemble properties of fluids and others are unique. The concept of "fourth state of matter" has been mentioned. This is perhaps precisely the reason why these materials are so fascinating and beautiful. Thus the aim of this work is ...

6. Simulation Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 6.1. Classical Molecular Dynamics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 6.2. Advanced Molecular Dynamics Methods . . . . . . . . . . . 12 6.3. Concurrent and Hierarchical Multiscale Methods . . . . . 14 6.4. Continuum Approaches Incorporating Atomistic Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ....