Effect of ternary additions on the structural stability and electronic structure of intermetallic compounds: Al3Ti + Cu

T. Hong, A. J. Freeman

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33 Scopus citations

Abstract

The effects of substituting Cu for either Ti or A1 in Al3Ti were studied by the first-principles local density self-consistent linear muffin tin orbital method. The Cu atoms are found to strongly favor A1 sites and to promote the stability of the Ll2phase, in agreement with experiment. Surprisingly, the rigid band model is closely followed when Cu substitutes for Al. However, the structure of the density of states undergoes remarkable changes if Cu substitutes for Ti; a much weaker hybridization occurs in both LI2- and DO22-like structures, giving rise to weaker binding effects. The modification of bond directionality upon Cu addition is determined by comparing the charge density for the structures calculated with those of pure Al3Ti. The effect of tetragonal distortion is also examined. By comparing with the bonding characteristics of pure Al3Ti in the Ll2and D022structures, the addition of Cu to Al3Ti is found to be equivalent to the tetragonal distortion in D022Al3Ti as far as bonding is concerned, resulting in the stabilized Ll2-like structure for (AlCu)3Ti. The semi-empirical inverse relation between the structural stability and the density of states at Fermi energy is well established.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)330-338
Number of pages9
JournalJournal of Materials Research
Volume6
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 1991

Funding

We are very grateful to our colleague, W. Lin, for providing the charge density construction program and for helpful discussions, and also thank D. M. Dimiduk for helpful discussions. The work was supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (Grant No. 88- 03468) and by a grant of computer time at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Supercomputing Center.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Materials Science
  • Condensed Matter Physics
  • Mechanics of Materials
  • Mechanical Engineering

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