Thermodynamics and phase diagrams: how to use them to understand reactivity in complex systems

In the present talk I will make a summary on how thermodynamics can be used to adress this issue of reactivity at metal/Ceramic interfaces. Starting with a reminder of an old but efficient approach that is the diffusion path concept, with some illustrations on a few examples, we finallyI show how thermodynamic calculations with Calphad dabatabes can be used for predictions of reactivity, even in complex systems such as Al-Ti alloys on SiC materials.