Physical Properties of Macroscopically Inhomogeneous Media

This chapter discusses several composites or granular or porous materials that display inhomogeneity on a macroscopic scale. In such materials, there are small, yet much larger than atomic, regions exhibiting macroscopic homogeneity. Different regions may display quite different properties. The chapter discusses the dc and ac electrical properties of composite media including the basic theory and results for dc electrical properties. It also presents a discussion of the effective-medium approximation, electrostatic resonances, exact bounds, and analytical properties and describes a number of static physical properties of composites. These properties include electrical conductivity and dielectric behavior near a percolation threshold, magnetotransport, thermoelectricity, superconductivity, and duality in two-dimensional composites. Finally, the chapter discusses the nonlinear properties and flicker noise in composites.