Study on azeotropic point of Pb–Sb alloys by ab-initio molecular dynamic simulation and vacuum distillation

Abstract

Ab-initio molecular dynamics simulations are performed to study the structural and electronic properties of liquid Pb–Sb alloys at eight concentrations. This alloy is known as azeotropic compounds within a certain ingredients at different temperature. The separation of Pb–Sb alloys is experimental carried out by vacuum distillation at 1173 K. Our predictions are coincident with the available experimental data. The experiment results indicate that there exists common volatilization for Pb–Sb alloys when Sb content is 15–20 wt.%. In addition, the calculation results show that when the content of Sb is around 15 wt.%, there is an intense interaction between Pb and Sb, which supports the experimental results. And this point (Pb-15 wt.%Sb) is azeotropic point.