Exploring phase stability, electronic and mechanical properties of Ce–Pb intermetallic compounds using first-principles calculations

Abstract

The phase stability, electronic and mechanical properties of Ce–Pb intermetallics have been investigated by using first-principles calculations. Five stable and four metastable phases of Ce–Pb intermetallics were verified. Among them, CePb2 has been confirmed as HfGa2-type structure. For Ce5Pb3, the high pressure phase transformation from D8m to D88 with trivalent Ce has been predicted to occur at P=1.2GPa and a high temperature phase transformation has been predicted from D8m to D88 with tetravalent Ce at 531.5K. The calculated lattice constants of the five stable phases are in good agreement with experimental values. The electronic density of states, charge density and electron localization function of Ce3Pb have been calculated, which indicated that the Ce and Pb show ionic behavior. The polycrystalline bulk modulus, shear modulus, Young's modulus, and Poisson's ratio are also estimated from the calculated single crystalline elastic constants. All of the calculated elastic constants satisfy mechanical stability criteria. The microhardness and mechanical anisotropy are predicted. The anisotropic nature of the Ce–Pb intermetallic compounds are demonstrated by the three-dimensional orientation dependent surfaces of Young's moduli and linear compressibility are also demonstrated. The longitudinal, transverse and average sound velocities and the Debye temperatures are also obtained in this work. The Ce3Pb has the largest Debye temperature of 192.6K, which means the Ce3Pb has a highest melting point and high thermal conductivity than other compounds.