Mesoscopic Physics of Complex Materials

This book is intended to provide a cross-disciplinary study of the physical properties of complex fluids, solids, and interfaces as a function of their mesoscopic structures, with empasis on nonequilibrium phenomena. The treatment shows the underlying connections between topics as diverse as critical phenomena in colloidal dynamics, glassy state relaxation and deformation, reinforced polymer composites, molecular level mixing in nanocomposites, and rough surfaces and interfaces. At the same time, each chapter is designed to be as independent as possible from the others so that the book can serve as a reference work as well as a text. It is not designed to review all the recent work in mesoscopic physics, which spans many disciplines. Rather, it attempts to establish a general framework for understanding and developing new materials that cannot be designed by the trial and error methods. Molecular dynamics is most suitable for the purpose of describing the dissipative and irreversible behavior of complex materials. The book introduces readers to the methods of non-equilibrium statistical mechanics as applied to complex materials, but always connects theories with experiments. A familiarity with the basics of statistical mechanics and condensed matter physics is assumed. The book will be useful as a reference for researchers in academia and industry in the fields of condensed matter physics, polymer physics, colloid and interface science, material science and engineering; it will also appeal to graduate students in these fields.