Ceramic/metal interface structures and their relationship to atomic- and meso-scale properties

Ceramic/metal interfaces have vast technological significance and are used in a variety of applications. This has prompted a concerted effort to develop fundamental structure/property relationships for these structures. This article critically reviews recent advances in complementary experimental and theoretical studies of ceramic/metal interfaces to provide an overview of progress made towards developing these relationships. In particular, the focus is on the structure, characterization, and modeling of non-reactive, bulk ceramic/metal interfaces. This includes determining interface atomic structure and chemistry and investigating impurity segregation to the interfaces. Additionally, the most important advances in the experimental and theoretical modeling of interfacial structure and chemistry are reviewed and comments are provided on the future outlook of this field. (C) 2003 Published by Elsevier B.V.