This book is clear and well written. It covers most of the topics in phase transitions, and explains thermal dynamics and kinetics in materials science and condensed-matter physics. Readers will be exposed to many topics ranging from classical metallurgy to quantum phase transitions. The scope of the book may be a little too broad for some readers, although there is enough depth for advanced researchers. Readers will fully appreciate the typical treatise in phase transitions and the critical phenomena.
At the beginning of each section/chapter, there is a brief recap of each topic. These reviews are easy to understand without any formulas or equations. This will help readers to get an overall picture of the topics without being lost in the mathematics, which are discussed in more detail later in the chapter. For experimentalists who are interested in phase transitions and their atomic-scale origins, parts I and II, and some topics in part III, should be sufficient. Theorists may be more interested in the advanced topics such as scaling and renormalization group theory. Many of the figures in the book are taken from state-of-the-art equipment, such as atom probe tomography and high-resolution electron microscopy, which directly link theories to experiments. This provides a lucid picture to help readers understand and apply the theory in their research.
Considering the range of topics covered in this book, step-by-step mathematical derivations are not necessary. Critical steps in the derivations are given with the meanings and limits of the formulae delineated. Brief explanations and derivations are provided for key equations from statistical physics and solid-state physics. In order to derive the spinodal decomposition model from the Taylor expansion of free energy, the author presents a detailed explanation of the decomposition process and its requirement on the mathematical form of the model. In particular, it is clearly explained why the square of the composition gradient is necessary in the final form of the model. These preparations make it easy to understand the mathematical derivations of the model and the Cahn–Hilliard equation.
An introduction to magnetism is included before the discussion of magnetic phase transition, covering most of the major topics in ferromagnetism. These introductions are brief, which is understandable considering the number of topics covered in this book. As a textbook, it is more suitable for upper-level undergraduate or graduate students in physics and materials science given the extent of the prerequisite knowledge in physics and materials science. A selection of problems is posed at the end of each chapter.
For graduate students, this can be used as a two-semester textbook, with the first semester covering parts I and II, and the second semester covering some selected topics in parts III and IV. Although the author uses this in a one-quarter graduate-level course at the California Institute of Technology, he indicates that only parts I and II are covered in detail, with selections from parts III and IV. Squeezing most of the topics into one semester would likely be too much of a stretch for most students.
Reviewer: Wanfeng Liis a research engineer of Research & Advanced Engineering, Ford Motor Co., USA.
