Phase transitions of metallic multilayers induced by differences in interface energy are considered thermodynamically, based on a thermodynamic model for interface energy and the Goldschmidt premise for lattice contraction. Bi-phase transition diagrams of Co/Cr, Zr/Nb, Ti/Nb and Ti/Al multilayers are constructed, which are in agreement with experimental results.

Based on a size-dependent cohesive energy model, the size-dependent critical transition temperatures Tc(D) of ferromagnetic, ferroelectric and superconductive nanocrystals are modeled in a unified form without any adjustable parameter, where D denotes the diameter of nanoparticles and nanowires or the thickness of thin films. In terms of this model, Tc(D) depends on both size and interface conditions. The predicted results are in good agreement with the experimental and other theoretical results for free nanoparticles and nanowires and thin films with different substrate conditions.

It is demonstrated that a simple model, free of any adjustable parameter, can be developed to predict the free energy of a crystal

Despite the intense interest in nanocarbon for a variety of engineering applications, many details of their relative thermodynamic stabilities remain mysterious. Here, a unified thermodynamic model for the thermodynamic stabilities of nanocarbon in different polymorphs is presented based on energetic contributions of surface energy and surface stress on total Gibbs free energy of systems. Through considering thermodynamically size-dependent phase stabilities among graphite, diamond, fullerenes, and carbon onions, size-temperature phase diagram of nanocarbon is established. The equilibrium temperatures among these phases increase as their sizes decrease. The obtained results are consistent with the available experimental and theoretical results. Moreover, related phase stability of bucky diamond in comparison with above phases are also discussed.

Critical cooling rate of a metallic liquid (Rc) necessary to form glass is correlated to the valence concentration e/a of the liquid (e and a denote valence and atom number in a unit cell, respectively!. Rc of liquid is minimized at e/a53.5. The principles of the composition design to form bulk metallic glasses are as follows: e/a53.5, the component number (n) in the alloy is larger than three, and the component percentage of the ith component (xi) approaches 1/n.