The existence has been considered of the interrelation between structures of metal melts of eutectic systems and systems having negative heat of mixing with participation of p-elements and their physicochemical properties. It has been shown that the appearance of extremums in experimental isotherms of density and surface tension is caused by the change of the nature of the atomic ordering in the melt. The structure elements forming in the melt may exhibit a surface activity if the binding energy between atoms constituting this structural element is higher than their energy of binding with the basic metal–solvent. It has been found that in this case the criterion for the surface activity in the systems having any type of the interaction may be the appearance of a covalent component in the structure of the chemical bond between atoms of the melt of the same kind as well as the presence of the decompression regions.

The paper describes a new environmentally friendly technology involving plasma sputtering of conductive materials and dispersion of the resulting nanoparticles in various liquids as one-step production cycle. The physical and chemical characteristics of the prepared nanodispersions are presented, specifically for nanosilver dispersion in food glycerin. The schematic and design of a prototype setup with multiple nanodispersion modules for fabricating new nanoproduct, Silver Shield-1000, are shown. The advantages of the new technology and equipment are described.

The measurements of capillary forces on different diamond-like materials and carbon allotropic modifications taken using a scanning force microscope have been discussed. The amplitude-frequency characteristics of the nanorelief surfaces studied have been widely varied by plasma chemical treatments. The measurements of capillary forces have been compared with the macroscopic values of a wetting angle. It has been shown that a macroscopic wetting angle depends on the averaged surface energy only and is slightly dependent on the nanorelief characteristics, and nanocapillary forces correlate with both surface relief parameters and the local angle of wetting. Criteria for multimeniscus mode of capillary forces measurement in the surface force spectroscopy and the prospects of this procedure application for mapping the real surface energy have been considered in detail.

Kinetics of water spreading on the surface of solid phases of various carbon materials has been first studied with the use of high-speed video filming (up to 1200 frames per second). It has been found that rates of low-temperature liquid and metal melts spreading and wetting the surface of solid phases are close in time (the process length is 10−2–10−3s) and in both the cases the spreading occurs in an inert mode. It has been shown that at the final stages the spreading of low-temperature liquids occurs at a viscous mode (10–30 min) caused by the presence of an adsorbed layer (coat) on the solid phase surface due to the environment.

The 35Ni-57Mn-8C melt has been studied at 1300, 1400, and 1500°C using X-ray diffraction. From the obtained experimental curves of the structure factor the structural models of the melt has been reconstructed at all temperatures under study using the Reverse Monte Carlo (RMC) method. The local structure of the resultant models has been examined employing the Voronoy-Delaunay statistical and geometrical method. Structures of the 92Ni-8C, 38Ni-62Mn, and 35Ni-57Mn-8C melts have been compared. Carbon atoms in the 35Ni-57Mn-8C melt have been shown to have an increased mobility as compared to the 92Ni-8C melt.

Structure models of Ni-Mn binary melts have been constructed using the Reverse Monte Carlo method and experimental curves of the structure factor. The local atomic structure has been analyzed employing the Voronoy-Delaunay statistical and geometrical method. It has been found that except for mathematical expectation and dispersion of the distribution of the sphericity coefficient of Voronoy polyhedra, concentration dependences of Ni-Mn melt structural parameters are of the additive nature. The analysis of the polyhedra metric characterization indicates that there occurs the dense noncrystalline packing of atoms in the melts under study, the portion of which increases with manganese concentration and reaches its maximum near the 66.7 Ni-33.3Mn melt. However, the melt that corresponds to the azeotropic point in the Ni-Mn phase diagram is characterized by an intensification of the interaction between the Ni-Mn and Mn-Mn pairs of atoms. This inhibits the formation of dense noncrystalline packing and increases the variety in the local surroundings of atoms of the melt at this point.

Melts of the Ni-Mn system have been X-ray studied over a wide range of concentrations at temperatures about 50°C above the liquidus line. It has been found that the concentration dependences of the averaged parameters of the local structure of atoms and molar volume are characterized by small positive deviations from additivity.

A local atomic structure of the Ni-Al, Ni-Ge, and Ni-Sn melts has been analyzed using the models reconstructed from experimental curves of the structure factor employing the reverse Monte Carlo and Voronoy-Delaunay methods. It has been found that a decisive effect on the formation of the short-range structure, type of the atomic interaction, and surface properties of melts of systems with intermetallic compounds is exerted by the retention of the component interaction intensity and the chemical bond type in melting intermetallic phases, which causes the correlation between the structures of the liquid and solid phases. A change in the pattern of the atom ordering in melts (an intensification of the interaction between like atoms, while the interaction between unlike atoms weakens in the Ni-Al → Ni-Ge → Ni-Sn order) results in the change of thermodynamic and surface properties of melts.

By analyzing the local atomic structure using models reconstructed from the experimental structure factor curves by the reverse Monte-Carlo method, we have established that microsegregation in the liquid state takes place in the Sn–Ge system and that tin and germanium atoms form chains with atomic spacings close to the covalent bond in solid state. The increase in the number of germanium atoms participating in cluster formation in diluted melts of germanium noticeably surpasses the increase in the germanium content of the melt, which is the reason for the appearance of extremums in the isotherms of density and surface tension of the Sn–Ge melt that is characterized by small positive deviations of activity from the ideal solution. In parallel with the interfacial energy and supersaturation, the cluster formation of the crystallizing substance with spacings close to the bond of this substance in the solid state contributes to an increase of the crystal growth rate.

Using the models reconstructed from the experimental structure factor curves by the reverse Monte-Carlo and Voronoy-Delaunay methods the local atomic structures of the Sn-Ge, Ag-Ge, and Ni-C simple eutectic systems has been analyzed. It has been found that the nature of the atom ordering in melts is responsible not only for the melt bulk properties, but for its surface properties (surface tension, wetting) as well. Clusters that form from atoms of the same sort in melts and whose binding energy inside the clusters exceeds the binding energy between the atoms of a solvent and a cluster, exhibit the surface activity in the melt, which explains the extremes in isotherms of the density and surface tension of the melts. Clusters with a chemical ordering of atoms patterned after the Me 3 C electronic compound revealed in the Ni-C and Ag-Ge systems indicate that the equilibrium phase diagrams of these systems at high pressures transform from diagrams of a simple eutectic type to diagrams with a compound, i.e. an increase in pressure contributes to the metallization of bonds in a melt.

The a-C:H films were deposited on monocrystalline silicon (001) substrates from RF (13.56MHz) discharge plasma in a capacity-type reactor. The stability of a-C:H films in different aggressive liquids was investigated by the methods of wettability and thermodesorption (TD) using a mass spectrometer to detect particles being desorbed in the temperature range 20–800°C. Comparative analysis of the data on film wettability and TD has allowed us to suggest the mechanism of a-C:H film destruction. The mechanism is based on the catalytic activity of ions in solution, which interact intensively with surface carbon atoms. The highest destabilisation of carbon bonds in the film near-surface layer, which causes film destruction to form CO2, is found to occur in contact with an alkali solution. In this case the CO2 ion flow intensity is two orders of magnitude higher than that from the initial film surface. This finding corresponds to the best wettability (wetting angle θ=10–12°) and the highest work of adhesion (Wa=158.5mJ/m2) of alkali solution to a-C:H film surface. The replacement of hydrogen by nitrogen in the film structure increases its chemical stability when contacting with aggressive media.

New theoretical data are presented on the lattice thermal conductivity temperature dependence of cubic boron nitride single crystals. Their thermal conductivity increases with increasing isotope purity, with the maximum thermal conductivity occurring with either isotopically pure 11B or 10B. The thermal conductivity is a symmetric function of isotopic composition with a minimum at 50% 10B.

Experimental studies of phase equilibria in the Co–Mn–C system and construction of the system melting diagram at atmospheric pressure have allowed a comprehensive investigation of capillary phenomena at the Co–Mn growth medium–carbon material interface that occur due to variations of both the liquid phase composition and melting temperature (along the solid–liquid equilibrium line). It was shown that cobalt melts containing 10–14 at.% Mn might be recommended as growth media for diamond synthesis. Along with the relatively low p,T-parameters, the introduction of manganese in such quantities provides optimal synthesis conditions, i.e., the lowest energy at the crystal – growth medium interface with a rather high solubility of carbon in the melt.

A new approach to the assessment of protective properties of amorphous hydrogenated carbon films is suggested that is based on studying the film wettability by solutions of different physico-chemical compositions. For a wide spectrum of water solutions of acids, bases, salts, organic liquids, surface-active substances and amorphous hydrogenated films, capillary properties (wettability, adhesion, interphase energy at the film–liquid interface) have been studied. The greatest change in σsl is shown to occur in the film–alkali solution system. A protective action of a-C:H films from the point of view of their interaction with a medium has been verified for all types of contact systems under study.