Phase Transformations in Hexagonal-Close-Packed Alloys: Analysis with the Cluster Variation Method

Abstract

ABSTRACTWe present a study of the hexagonal close-packed (hcp) Ising model for binary alloys within the cluster variation approximation. Groundstates of order stabilized by nearest-neighbor (NN) pair, triplet, and tetrahedron interactions were determined using the cluster configuration polyhedron method; no previous hcp ground-state study has considered all of these interactions. We predict physically realizable groundstates with stoichiometries A, AB (3 distinct structures), A2B, A3B, and A4B3. The previously unpredicted A4B3 structure is stabilized by multiatom (i.e. triplet, tetrahedron) interactions, while the others are stabilized by the two NN pair interactions. The Cluster Variation Method (CVM) was used to calculate the finite-temperature phase-equilibria for prototypical binary alloys. We present the first ordering phase diagrams computed with the CVM which contain all relevant groundstates for both isotropic and anisotropic NN pair interactions.