First-principles calculation of phase equilibria in the aluminum lithium system

M. Sluiter*, D. De Fontaine, X. Q. Guo, R. Podloucky, A. J. Freeman

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

140 Scopus citations

Abstract

Volume-dependent total energies of Al, Li, and various intermetallic Al-Li compounds have been calculated by the first-principles full-potential linearized augmented-plane-wave (FLAPW) method. These values have been used to calculate Al-Li phase diagrams according to the cluster variation method in the tetrahedron approximation. Methods for performing lattice-parameter optimization and for including relaxation effects are presented. Truly first-principles- based phase diagrams for solid phases computed without any fitting parameters or empirical formulas are shown to exhibit a remarkable agreement with experimental data. Subsequently, some empirical equations for the free energy of the liquid and the vibrational entropy have been added to the first-principles results and striking similarities with experimental phase diagrams were obtained. Special attention has been paid to the metastable Al3Li phase and to the mechanical properties of Al-rich Al-Li alloys. Furthermore, the influence of relaxation and vibrational entropy are discussed.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)10460-10476
Number of pages17
JournalPhysical Review B
Volume42
Issue number16
DOIs
StatePublished - 1990

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Condensed Matter Physics

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