Elastic properties of thorium ceramics ThX (X = C, N, O, P, As, Sb, S, Se)

Abstract

The elastic constants (C 11, C 12, and C 44) of all the known cubic binary phases of thorium with non-metals, ThX (X = C, N, O, P, As, Sb, S, Se), have been calculated using the full-potential linearized augmented plane wave (FLAPW) method with an exchange-correlation potential in the generalized gradient approximation (GGA). Numerical estimates of elastic parameters of the corresponding polycrystalline ceramics (bulk compression modulus, shear modulus, Young’s modulus, Poisson’s ratio, and Lame’s coefficients) are obtained and analyzed for the first time.