About this Symposium

This symposium will focus on phase transformations in ceramics and other inorganic materials spanning the thermodynamic, kinetic, and mechanistic aspects, as well as new or potential applications. All aspects of study - experimental, computational and theoretical, will be addressed. It will also address relevant issues in minerals and glasses. Session topics will cover homogeneous transformations; nucleation and growth processes; kinetics; diffusion-controlled versus diffusion-less transformations; critical particle size effects, pressure or irradiation induced transformations, martensitic transformations; ferroic (ferroelectric, ferromagnetic, or ferroelastic) or multifunctional transformations. Topics focused on applications are welcome; e.g. in transformation toughening or weakening, actuators, shape memory ceramics, smart or intelligent material systems.

The symposium will be broadly divided into sessions on (1) fundamentals, (2) properties and behavior, (3) characterization, and (4) applications. Theory and modeling will be incorporated within the various sessions as appropriate.