Crystal chemical aspects of solid solutions – natural resources, applications and basic research

Abstract Solid solutions are an omnipresent class of materials in all kinds of solids, being of ionic, covalent or metallic nature. The present overview emphasizes selected solid solutions, covering these three bonding situations. The focus lies on mineral solid solutions that are important resources for functional materials, on the application of synthetic solid solutions on a large industrial scale (e.g., steel, brass, bronzes, glasses, color pigments), materials with special properties as well as selected examples from basic research where solid solutions play an important role for modifying materials properties.