COLOR IN PETTIFORS STRUCTURE MAPS - INTERMETALLIC COMPOUNDS FOR A NEWUSE

Bonding between unlike metals is the base of compounds with particular properties: good mechanical resistance even at high temperatures, mag nets, superconductors, and so forth, A somewhat exceptional property c an interest art, watchmaking, and jewelry; some of these new metals ar e colored, The origin of the effect is the photon-electron interaction subject to strict rules of quantum states and of crystal structure, B rittleness of these materials can be a nuisance, but it is not an intr insic property as experiments with cobalt-disilicide show.