Some transport properties of dilute copper and silver alloys

Abstract

The Boltzmann transport equation for the electrical and thermal resistivities of copper and silver and their dilute alloys is solved numerically for the energy dependence of the electron distribution function, assuming just the lowest order angular dependence. The pseudopotential derived by Dagens (1976) is used to calculate the electron-phonon matrix elements. This pseudopotential gives reasonable values for the transport coefficients at high temperature. At low temperature, the detailed energy dependence of the electron distribution function leads to large decreases in both the electrical and thermal resistivities relative to the values obtained with the simplest form. It also causes significant deviations from Mathiessen's rule (DMR) not only in the thermal resistivity but also in the electrical resistivity. For the latter, the DMR are comparable to those caused by the angular dependence in the distribution function.