Contents

  Introductory Word from the Author
  Acknowledgments
  Outlined Contents for Chapters 1 to 4
  Symbols, Notations, Abbreviations
Chapter 1    Critical Survey
1.1    Critical approach to "critical phenomena"
1.2    First- and second-order phase transitions
1.3    First-order phase transitions cannot have a "critical point"
1.4    General considerations on lattice energy, polymorphism and phase transitions
1.4.1    Taking into account definitions of a solid phase and a phase transition
1.4.2    Controlling factor: similarity or lowest energy?
1.4.3    Why polymorphs sometimes look similar
1.4.4    More than 160 different mechanisms of one phenomenon
1.5    Other classifications
1.5.1    Martensitic transformations
1.5.2    Displacive - reconstructive
1.5.3    Displacive and order-disorder
1.5.4    Phenomenological approach: I, 2I, ... etc. types
1.5.5    Another phenomenological classification (Pippard)
1.6    The soft-mode concept
1.7    The imaginary "incommensurate" solid state
1.8    Ferromagnetism without Weiss-Heisenberg molecular / exchange field
Chapter 2    The Molecular Mechanism of Solid-State Phase Transitions
2.1    Summation of the problems
2.2    Crystal growth in a crystal medium
2.2.1    The experimental approach
2.2.2    Growth of face-bounded single crystals in crystal medium
2.2.3    Using thin crystal plates to identify interfaces
2.2.4    More on orientations of lattices and interfaces
2.2.5    The "odd" requirements to the molecular mechanism of crystal phase transitions
2.3    Edgewise mode of interface motion
2.3.1    Microscopic observation under high optical resolution
2.3.2    The implication of the edgewise mechanism
2.4    Phase transition at the contact interface
2.4.1    Recalling the Hartshorne's effort
2.4.2    Designing the contact molecular model of interface
2.4.3    Phase transition: molecular relocation at the contact interface
2.4.4    The solution of the Hartshorne's paradox
2.4.5    The coupling at the contact interface
2.4.6    General significance and predicting power of the contact mechanism
2.5    Nucleation in crystals
2.5.1    Problems with the standard interpretation
2.5.2    Nucleation in small single crystals
2.5.3    Formation of a nucleus: a predetermined act, rather than a successful random fluctuation
2.5.4    The structure of a nucleation site
2.6    Temperature of phase transition
2.6.1    Analogy with crystallization from melt
2.6.2    The meaning of a recorded transition temperature Ttr
2.6.3    The source of typical ambiguities: discrepancies in the reported temperatures, range of transition, rounding, hysteresis of critical points
2.6.4    Misplacement of transition temperature - total misinterpretation of the phase transition phenomenon
2.6.5    More on hysteresis of solid-state phase transitions
2.6.6    Resume and final notes on temperature and hysteresis of solid-state phase transitions
2.6.7    Example No. 1: The temperature of phase transition in p-diiodobenzene (PDI)
2.6.8    Example No.2: the "Curie point" in Ni
2.7    Order-disorder phase transitions as crystal growth
2.7.1    The deceptive "common sense"
2.7.2    Direct microscopic observations of C--ODC transitions
2.7.3    Order-disorder phase transition in CH4: no ambiguities
2.8    Epitaxial phase transitions
2.8.1    Oriented and non-oriented crystal growth in crystal medium
2.8.2    Epitaxial transition in hexamethil benzene (HMB)
2.8.3    Epitaxial transition in DL-norleucine (DL-N)
2.8.4    Significance of layered structures. Epitaxial nucleation in the interlayer microcracks
2.8.5    More examples in support of epitaxial crystal growth
2.8.6    The origin of domain structures
2.8.7    On classification of solid-state phase transitions
2.9    Kinetics of solid-state phase transitions
2.9.1    Definition; current status; bulk and interface kinetics
2.9.2    A more detailed representation of interface motion
2.9.3    Ten experimental facts of interface kinetics
2.9.3.1    No phase transition in defect-free crystal
2.9.3.2    Temperature dependence
2.9.3.3    Hysteresis of interface motion
2.9.3.4    Depletion of the reserve of lattice defects
2.9.3.5    Velocity V as a function of the number of transitions
2.9.3.6    Lingering in resting position
2.9.3.7    Memory of the previous position
2.9.3.8    Slower start upon repetition
2.9.3.9    Acceleration from start
2.9.3.10    Acceleration induced by approaching interface
2.9.4    Revision of common concept of activation energy
2.9.5    Relationships between the controlling parameters
2.9.6    The "truly out of control" kinetics
Chapter 3    "Lambda-Anomalies" and other Apparent Anomalies
3.1    The appearance of different physical properties upon measurement of a heterophase system
3.2    Experimental imitation of a "continuous transition" and a "lambda-anomaly"
3.3    "Lambda-anomaly" of volume coefficient of thermal expansion
3.4    "Lambda-anomaly" of heat capacity
3.4.1    Special role of the heat capacity "lambda-peaks"
3.4.2    [Nucleation range] + [Latent heat] = ["Lambda-anomaly"]
3.4.3    Hysteresis of the "heat capacity lambda-anomalies"
3.4.4    Instructive story of "specific heat lambda-anomaly" in NH4Cl
3.4.5    Two additional ways to disprove "specific heat lambda-anomaly"
3.4.6    Analyzing old literature data
3.4.7    Turning the observed inconsistencies into a harmony
3.4.8    On linear correlation between specific heat and coefficient of thermal expansion
3.4.9    Summary on the mechanism of phase transition in NH4Cl
3.5    "Lambda-anomaly" of dielectric constant
3.5.1    The discordant facts
3.5.2    Electric conductance during epitaxial phase transition
3.5.3    Peak of dielectric constant in (NH4)2SO4 phase transition
3.6    "Lambda-anomaly" of light scattering
3.6.1    Static source of "critical opalescence"
3.6.2    Revealing experiments by Durvasula and Gammon
3.6.3    Light scattering by nuclei and interfaces
3.6.4    The correct solution has been proposed, but ignored
3.6.5    Light scattering in NH4Cl and quartz phase transitions
3.7    "Lambda-anomaly" of neutron scattering
3.8    On solid-state phase transitions, their molecular mechanism and anomalies - final notes with some philosophical and psychological overtones
Chapter 4    Fundamentals of Ferromagnetism and Ferroelectricity
4.1    Unsatisfactory state of the theory and suggested new solution
4.2    Ferroelectric and ferromagnetic phase transitions
4.2.1    Ferroelectric phase transitions
4.2.2    Ferromagnetic phase transitions
4.2.3    Ferromagnetic non-second-order non-phase transition in iron?
4.3    Spontaneous magnetization and spontaneous polarization: why are they spontaneous?
4.4    "Curie point", a misnomer
4.5    Origin of domain structures
4.6    Two basic components that make a ferroic
4.7    Understanding the cause of magnetostriction
4.8    Domain interfaces. Tearing down Bloch wall
4.9    Domain equilibrium in ferroic structures
4.10    Barkhausen effect as manifestation of crystal growth
4.11    Nucleation in single-domain particles
4.12    Magnetization stages. Meaning of "easy" and "hard" directions
4.13    Origin and formation of hysteresis loops. Magnetization as a counterpart of solid-state phase transitions
4.13.1    Ferroic hysteresis loops: general remarks
4.13.2    Rectangular hysteresis loops
4.13.3    "Typical" hysteresis loops
4.13.4    Specificity of ferroelectric hysteresis loops
4.13.5    Double hysteresis loops
4.14    Summation of the new principles
Appendix 1    Incomplete List of Different Solid-State Phase Transitions Found in the Literature
Appendix 2    Shortcomings of Adiabatic Calorimetry and an Unnoticed Advantage of Differential Scanning Calorimetry
Appendix 3    Polemic with an Anonymous Opponent
Appendix 4    Publication of a Scientific Paper of an Experimentalist is Turned Down Because It Undermines the Authority of Traditional School
Appendix 5    On Status of Theory of Ferromagnetism and Ferroelectricity as Stated by Experts in the Field
Appendix 6    Review on "Light Scattering Near Phase Transitions"

 

References