interelement

Interelement is an adjective and noun used in technical language to describe phenomena that occur between elements, or to denote a relationship or interaction spanning different chemical elements. The term is not tied to a single, formal definition, but is commonly used in fields where the properties of a system depend on how different elements interact with each other.

In chemistry and materials science, interelement often appears in phrases such as interelement bonds, interelement interactions, or interelement distances. Interelement bonds refer to chemical bonds formed between atoms of unlike elements (heteronuclear bonds). Interelement interactions describe the broader set of forces that involve atoms of different elements, including ionic, covalent, metallic, or van der Waals interactions that govern structure and reactivity. In crystallography and solid-state chemistry, interelement distances or arrangements describe how atoms of various elements are positioned relative to one another in a lattice, affecting properties like electronic structure and diffusion. In spectroscopy and analytical contexts, the term may refer to phenomena where signals of one element influence or interfere with those of another (interelement interference in emission or absorption measurements).

In metallurgy and materials engineering, interelement diffusion or interelement exchange describes how atoms of different elements migrate relative to one another during processing, aging, or high-temperature exposure. Because interelement is descriptive rather than technically fixed, writers often prefer more precise terms such as heteronuclear, cross-element, or interspecies when appropriate. See also cross-element interactions, heteroatomic bonding, and interdiffusion for related concepts.