Intermetallics: new physics

Intermetallic compounds, or 'intermetallics' for short, have received exten sive attention in recent years because of their technological promise as hi gh-temperature structural materials. This technical research has been accom panied by a programme of curiosity-driven research which has uncovered a nu mber of novel physical features, beginning with a major burst of research o n vacant lattice sites in certain intermetallics, and continuing with such phenomena as dislocation injection across phase boundaries, structural aspe cts of Laves phases and the use of an intermetallic to separate hydrogen is otopes. Some of these recent developments are surveyed here.