Extended defect structures theory

An extension of the kinetic theory on cases when a mechanical pressure interacts with kinetic processes inside solid volume and on interfaces has wide application interests. The elastic deformations in solid are presented from influence of external forces and from presence of internal defects of crystal structure point defects (vacancy, intersite atoms, complexes of atoms, etc.), extended defects (dislocations and inner interfaces in polycrystals), and three-dimensional defects (heterophases crystals, polycrystals). 

It is already dear that the equilibrium behavior of materials having gross defects is not predicted by theories which are a simple extension of the classical point defect models. This is because strong interactions between defects in parent structures yield extended defects that become regular structural features of textured intermediate phases, which when ordered leave very low concentrations of point defects. The most studied of these structural features is the Wadsley defect resulting from crystallographic shear in typical... 

The SCF method for molecules has been extended into the Crystal Orbital (CO) method for systems with ID- or 3D- translational periodicityiMi). The CO method is in fact the band theory method of solid state theory applied in the spirit of molecular orbital methods. It is used to obtain the band structure as a means to explain the conductivity in these materials, and we have done so in our study of polyacetylene. There are however some difficulties associated with the use of the CO method to describe impurities or defects in polymers. The periodicity assumed in the CO formalism implies that impurities have the same periodicity. Thus the unit cell on which the translational periodicity is applied must be chosen carefully in such a way that the repeating impurities do not interact. In general this requirement implies that the unit cell be very large, a feature which results in extremely demanding computations and thus hinders the use of the CO method for the study of impurities. 

The electronic structure of solids and surfaces is usually described in terms of band structure. To this end, a unit cell containing a given number of atoms is periodically repeated in three dimensions to account for the infinite nature of the crystalline solid, and the Schrodinger equation is solved for the atoms in the unit cell subject to periodic boundary conditions [40]. This approach can also be extended to the study of adsorbates on surfaces or of bulk defects by means of the supercell approach in which an artificial periodic structure is created where the adsorbate is translationally reproduced in correspondence to a given superlattice of the host. This procedure allows the use of efficient computer programs designed for the treatment of periodic systems and has indeed been followed by several authors to study defects using either density functional theory (DFT) and plane waves approaches [41 3] or Hartree-Fock-based (HF) methods with localized atomic orbitals [44,45]. 

From the very beginning of the modern era, there was strong involvement of theorists. Theoretical physicists were particularly interested in the topological defects inherent in ID systems, and the reversed spin-charge relationships of sohtons and polarons. Quantum chemists focused on the molecular-orbital theory of extended structures. Both disciplines struggled with the relative importance of electron correlations and electron—phonon interactions. 

---