ABSTRACT
This chapter identifies key physical and thermal properties and describes the source of the behavior based on the concepts of atomic bonding, crystal structure, and phase equilibrium. Density and melting temperature are important physical properties. Heat conduction is a thermal property. Several different terms are used to refer to heat capacity. One is thermal capacity, which is synonymous with heat capacity. A second is molar heat capacity, which is the quantity of heat necessary to increase the temperature of one molecular weight of a material by one degree. A third term is specific heat. Thermal shock resistance is a combination of thermal and mechanical properties. Thermal expansion is the general term used to describe the change in dimensions that occurs with most materials as the temperature is increased or decreased. Metals with weak atomic bonding and a close-packed structure have very high thermal expansion.
