Topics covered by the volume's 15 original papers include a new method to determine the Young's modulus of a microcrystal based upon Raman spectrometry, solid-state reaction in an Al-Fe binary system induced by mechanical alloying, thermal behavior of xenon in a refractory metal for gas fast
reactor fuel elements, molecular dynamics simulation of brittle fracture in BCC iron, growth kinetics of boride layers, structure and optical properties of magnetron-sputtered SiOx layers with silicon nanoparticles, reaction of iron with amorphous silicon and crystalline silicon for the fabrication of iron silicides, theoretical determination of the pressure-volume-temperature relationship of some alkali halides, and concentration micro-field for lamellar eutectic growth.