Valence electronic structure of Ti, Cr, Fe and Co in some alloys from Kβ-to- Kα X-ray intensity ratio studies

Abstract

Kβ-to- Kα X-ray intensity ratios of Ti, Cr, Fe and Co in pure metals and in Cr 0.26Fe 0.74, Cr 0.80Co 0.20 and Ti 0.80Cr 0.20 alloys have been measured following excitation by 59.54 keV γ-rays from a 7400 MBq (200 mCi) 241 Am point-source. The valence electronic structure of Ti, Cr, Fe and Co in the samples have been evaluated by the comparison of the measured Kβ-to- Kα intensity ratios with the results of multiconfiguration Dirac–Fock calculations performed for various electronic configurations of these metals. The 3d-electron populations obtained for pure metallic Ti, Cr, Fe and Co agree well with the results of band structure calculations of Papaconstantopoulos (Handbook of band structure of elemental solids, Plenum Press, New York, 1986). Our analysis indicates significant increase of 3d-electron population of Ti, Cr and Fe in the alloys with respect to the pure metals, except for Cr in Cr 0.26Fe 0.74 where the absolute 3d-electron population of Cr is found to be slightly less as compared to that of pure Cr. It has been found that to reliably explain the observed changes in the valence electronic structure of Ti, Cr, Fe and Co in their alloys it is necessary to take into account the rearrangement of electrons between 3d and (4s,4p) states of individual metal atoms, while the transfer of 3d electrons from one element to the other element can be neglected.