Experimental and Theoretical Studies in Modern Mechanochemistry

Mechanochemistry is the branch of Chemistry focusing on the chemical
reactivity of solid substances submitted to the application of mechanical
forces under either elastic or plastic deformation conditions. A measure of
its ancestral roots is given by the many citations to mechanochemical
procedures in documents dating back to the Classical Roman Age. Quite
noticeably, even then such learning was referred to as remarkably ancient.
Other important tracks occasionally emerged during the Middle Age, when
the so-called via caloris of Alchemists dreaming the transmutation of matter
overwhelmed the slow comminution of powders in cold stone mortars. Yet,
Mechanochemistry only apparently was sunk in oblivion. The ancient
learning survived through the centuries, and was brought back to life by the
insatiable curiosity of little and great scientists.
After decades of continuous efforts, we are now aware that some of the
most important properties of materials in high-technology applications are
strongly influenced, or even controlled, by mechanochemical phenomena.
The interplay between mechanical stress and chemical reactivity lies for
example at the basis of the corrosion behavior as well as in metallic glasses
and ceramics where local atomic strain plays a critical role in structural
failure. At last, the entire field of Materials Science no longer ignores the
fascinating properties of mechanochemical reactions.
In contrast to their scientific and technological importance, our basic
understanding of even the simplest mechanochemical processes is at best
rudimentary. A deeper understanding and control of elementary processes in
Mechanochemistry is therefore needed. To call attention on the considerable
opportunities existing in this area of fundamental and applied research on
materials, we highlight in this book a number of past achievements and
promising recent developments in the field.
It is today widely accepted that only a highly interdisciplinary approach
holds the greatest promise to provide novel insight into the fundamental
features of physical, chemical and mechanical processes in the various
fields of Materials Science. The same is true for Mechanochemistry. As a
whole, the “mechanochemical” community is as diverse as virtually any
other in materials research, involving disciplines as disparate as
fundamental Physics and Chemistry on the one hand, and Engineering,
Physical Metallurgy and Physical Ceramics on the other. Yet, it is rare that
this diverse pool of expertise is ever brought together in a focused attack on
mechanochemical phenomena and properties. It is our hope that this volume
could give the reader a sense of the rich and fertile common ground which
already exists between the different disciplines, giving thus a contribution to
bring these very different communities closer together.
A central theme in much of the ongoing work on Mechanochemistry
concerns the interrelation between the chemical properties and the
underlying structure of materials. While for a number of scientific research
subjects many suitable experimental techniques for the characterization and
investigation of properties and processes have become available in recent
years, Mechanochemistry still poses a major challenge. This is mostly due
to the fact that in a general mechanochemical process only a small fraction
of atoms is directly affected. It is precisely this inhomogeneity that
undermines any effort to characterize in more detail the mechanochemical
process.
In organizing this book we soon realized that any attempt to cover a
wide field of research such as Mechanochemistry would necessarily
represent a highly selective endeavor. There are many ways of classifying
the contributions offered