Chemical Kinetics of Solids

The enormous amount of research at the interface between physical and structural chemistry has been expertly reviewed recently by Schmalzried in a book about chemical kinetics of solids (Schmalzried 1995), dealing with matters such as morphology and reactions at evolving interfaces, oxidation specifically, internal reactions (such as internal oxidation), reactions under irradiation, etc. 

H. Schmalzried, in Chemical Kinetics of Solids. Weinheim VCH, 1995, Chapter 8. 

H. Schmalzried, Solid State Reactions. Academic Press, New York, 1974 H. Schmalzried, Chemical Kinetics of Solids. VCH, Weinheim, 1995. 

The unique mechanical and structural properties of crystals necessitate the application of special experimental methods for the investigation of thd chemical kinetics of solids. In principle, all the physical parameters of substances involved in a chemical process can be used to follow the kinetics. These processes normally occur at high temperatures since they need thermal activation. Conventionally, the outcome of a solid state reaction experiment is inspected only after quenching. However, the quenching process is prone to alter many properties of the system, which explains the ambiguous results often found in the studies of solid state kinetics. 

The foregoing chapters mark a long and not yet finished journey through the special field of the chemical kinetics of solids. It differs from the more common textbooks on kinetics not only because of the immense variety of crystalline phases, but even more in view of the ambiguity in the definition of the correct number of independent thermodynamic state variables. This is the source of many difficulties and particularly with solids containing one or more immobile components or multiphase systems composed of coherent or semicoherent crystals. In coping with this inherent complexity in the foregoing chapters, we chose to restrict ourselves mainly to the fundamental aspects rather than to present many uncorrelated details. 

Chemical Kinetics of Solids covers a special part of solid state chemistry and physical chemistry. It has been written for graduate students and researchers who want to understand the physical chemistry of solid state processes in fair depth and to be able to apply the basic ideas to new (practical) situations. Chemical Kinetics of Solids requires the standard knowledge of kinetic textbooks and a sufficient chemical thermodynamics background. The fundamental statistical theory underlying the more or less phenomenological approach of this monograph can be found in a recent book by A. R. Allnatt and A.B. Lidiard Atomic Transport in Solids, which complements and deepens the theoretical sections. 

A large part of Chemical Kinetics of Solids was written while I enjoyed the hospitalities of the Theoretical Chemistry Department at Oxford University,... 

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