Constraints on phase stability, defect energies, and elastic constants of metals described by EAM-type potentials

Abstract

We demonstrate that the embedded-atom method and related potentials predict many dimensionless properties of simple metals to depend predominantly on a single coefficient μ, which typically lies between 0.3 and 0.45. Among other relations presented in this work, we find that , , and hold within 25% accuracy and also find a linear dependence of the melting temperature on μ. The used variables are cohesive energy Ec, coordination number Z, vacancy energy Ev, and bulk modulus B, while G is the average of ordinary and tetragonal shear modulus. We provide analytical arguments for these findings, which are obeyed reasonably well by several metals.