Research Opportunities for Materials With Ultrafine Microstructures: Report of the Committee on Materials With Submicron-Sized Microstructures

Materials with nanoscale structure (i.e. a structure of less than 100 nanometers in size) represent a new and exciting field of research. These materials can be produced in many ways, possess a number of unique properties compared with coarser-scaled structures, and have several possible applications with significant technological importance. Based on a state-of-the-art survey of research findings and commercial prospects, this new book concludes that much work remains to be done in characterizing these structures and their exceptional properties, and presents recommendations for the specific research and development activities needed to fill these gaps in our understanding.