In order to examine how the solid-liquid interface responds to temperature variation depending on the materials characteristics, i.e. faceted phase or nonfaceted phase, the moving solid-liquid interface of transparent organic material, as a model substance for metallic materials (pivalic acid, camphene, salol, and camphor-50wt% naphthalene) was observed in-situ. Plots of the interface movement distance against time were obtained. The solid-liquid interface of the nonfaceted phase is atomically rough; it migrates in continuous mode, giving smooth curves of the distance-time plot. This is the case for pivalic acid and camphene. It was expected that the faceted phases would show different types of curves of the distance-time plot because of the atomically smooth solid-liquid interface. However, salol (faceted phase) shows a curve of the distance-time plot as smooth as that of the nonfaceted phases. This indicates that the solid-liquid interface of salol migrates as continuously as that of the nonfaceted phases. This is in contrast with the case of naphthalene, one of the faceted phases, for which the solidliquid interface migrates in “stop and go” mode, giving a stepwise curve of the distance-time plot.

The microstructure and mechanical property of hot-pressed nanocomposites with a different temperature for atmosphere changing from to Ar have been studied. When the atmosphere changed from to Ar gas at , the hot-pressed composite was characterized by inhomogeneous microstructure and low fracture strength. On the contrary, when the atmosphere changed at a lower temperature of , a more homogeneous microstructure and higher fracture strength was observed.

The effect of Cu on the hydrogen reduction of powders was investigated by measuring the humidity change during a non-isothermal process of hydrogen reduction. The presence of Cu induced a shift in the reduction temperature and strongly affected the reduction processes of , which comprised the contained chemical vapor transport of . This study suggests that the surface of the Cu grains acts as a nucleation site for the reduction of to particles from or . Such an activated reduction process results in the deposition of Mo and particles on the surface of the Cu.

The microstructure and electrical conductivity of CNTs dispersed nanocomposites depending on the powder processing and CNTs content were demonstrated. The composite powders with homogeneous dispersion of CNTs could be synthesized by a catalytic route for direct formation of CNTs on nano-sized Fe dispersed powders. The sintered nanocomposite using the composite powder with directly synthesized CNTs showed homogeneous microstructure and enhanced elelctrical conductivity. The influence of powder processing on the properties of sintered nanocomposites was discussed by the observed microstructural features.