Ground State Properties Of Alloys Research Articles

The role of magnetism in the formation of the two-phase miscibility gap in β Cu–Al–Mn

A theoretical study of the ground state properties of alloys with compositions along the pseudobinary line Cu3Al–Cu2AlMn is presented. Cohesive energies, lattice parameters and magnetic moments of the two limiting compounds and three intermediate compositions are calculated by means of density functional theory. In order to evaluate the role of magnetism, both the spin-polarized (SP) and the non spin-polarized (NSP) cases have been considered. It is shown that magnetism plays a central role on the stabilization of the L21 crystal structure in Cu2AlMn, and in the formation of the miscibility gap in Cu3Al–Cu2AlMn. The considerable lattice mismatch between the end compounds can be attributed also to magnetic effects.

Spontaneous polarization and band gap bowing in YxAlyGa1-x-yN alloys lattice-matched to GaN

First-principles calculations are carried out to estimate the spontaneous polarization and the energy band gap bowing in YxAlyGa1-x-yN alloys lattice-matched to GaN. The ground state properties of alloys are computed by using the pseudopotential-planewave method in conjunction with generalized gradient approximation to density functional theory. We find nonlinear behavior of the spontaneous polarization and the band gap energies in YxAlyGa1-x-yN alloys and the values depend on the atomic geometry in the unit cell, especially on that of yttrium.

Real Space Multiple Scattering Description of Alloy Phase Stability

ABSTRACTWe present a brief overview of the advanced methodology which has been recently developed to study phase stability properties of substitutional alloys, including order-disorder phenomena and structural transformations. The approach is based on the real space version of the Generalized Perturbation Method, first introduced by Ducastelle and Gautier, within the Korringa-Kohn- Rostoker multiple scattering formulation of the Coherent Potential Approximation. Temperature effects are taken into account with a generalized meanfield approach, namely the Cluster Variation Method. The viability and the predictive power of such a scheme will be illustrated by a few examples, among them: (1) the ground state properties of alloys, in particular the ordering tendencies for a series of equiatomic bcc-based alloys, (2) the computation of alloy phase diagrams with the case of fcc and bcc-based Ni-Al alloys, (3) the calculation of antiphase boundary energies and interfacial energies, and (4) the stability of artificial ordered superlattices.