Calculated stacking-fault energies of elemental metals.

Abstract

We have performed ab initio calculations of twin, intrinsic, and extrinsic face-centered-cubic stacking faults for all the 3d, 4d, and 5d transition metals by means of a Green's-function technique, based on the linear-muffin-tin-orbitals method within the tight-binding and atomic-sphere approximations. The results are in excellent agreement with recent layer Korringa-Kohn-Rostoker Green's-function calculations where stacking-fault energies for Ni, Cu, Rh, Pd, Ag, Ir, and Au were found by means of the so-called force theorem. We find that the self-consistent fault energies for all the metals in the three transition series vary with atomic number essentially as the calculated structural energy differences between the face-centered-cubic and the hexagonal-close-packed phases. In addition we find that the simple relations between the different types of fault energies predicted by models based on the local atomic coordination are obeyed to a high degree of accuracy.