| 1. |
- Delczeg-Czirjak, Erna-Krisztina, 1978-
(author)
-
Energy relavant materials: Investigations based on first principles
- 2012
-
Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Energy production, storage and efficient usage are all crucial factors for environmentally sound and sustainable future technologies. One important question concerns the refrigeration industry, where the energy efficiency of the presently used technologies is at best 40% of the theoretical Carnot limit. Magnetic refrigerators offer a modern low-energy demand and environmentally friendly alternative. The diiron phosphide-based materials have been proposed to be amongst the most promising candidates for working body of magnetic refrigerators. Hydrogen is one of the most promising sources of renewable energy. Considerable international research focuses on finding good solid state materials for hydrogen storage. On the other hand, hydrogen gas is obtained from hydrogen containing chemical compounds, which after breaking the chemical bonds usually yield to a mixture of different gases. Palladiumsilver alloys are frequently used for hydrogen separation membranes for producing purified hydrogen gas. All these applications need a fundamental understanding of the structural, magnetic, chemical and thermophysical properties of the involved solid state materials. In this thesis ab initio electronic structure methods are used to study the magnetic and crystallographic properties of Fe2P based magneto-caloric compounds and the thermophysical properties of Pd-Ag binary alloys. The nature of magnetism and the strong sensitivity of the Curie temperature of the Fe2P1−xTx (T = boron, silicon and arsenic) are investigated. Using first principles theory, the change in the average magnetic exchange interactions upon doping is decomposed into chemical and structural contributions, the latter including the c/a and vol-ume effects. It is demonstrated that for the investigated alloys the structural effect can´be ascribed mainly to the c/a ratio that strengthens the magnetic exchange interactions between the two Fe sublattices. On the other hand, it is shown that the two types of Fe atoms have a very complicated co-dependency, which manifests in a metamagnetic behavior of the FeI sublattice. This behavior is strongly influenced by doping the P sites. Lattice stability of pure Fe2P and the effect of Si doping on the phase stability are pre-sented. In contrast to the observation, for the ferromagnetic state the hexagonal structure (hex, space group P62m) has no the lowest energy. For the paramagnetic state, the hex structure is shown to be the stable phase and the computed total energy versuscomposition indicates a hex to bco (body centered orthorhombic, space group Imm2)crystallographic phase transition with increasing Si content. The mechanisms responsi-ble for the structural phase transition are discussed in details. The magnetic properties of Fe2P can be subtly tailored by Mn doping. It was shown experimentally that Mn atoms preferentially occupy one of the two different Fe sites of Fe2P. Theoretical results for the Mn site occupancy in MnFeP1−xSix are presented. The single crystal elastic constants, the polycrystalline elastic moduli and the Debye temperature of disordered Pd1−xAgx binary alloys are calculated for the whole range of concentration, 0 ≤ x ≤ 1. It is shown that the variation of the elastic parameters of Pd-Ag alloys with chemical composition strongly deviates from the simple linear trend. The complex electronic origin of these anomalies is demonstrated. The effect of long range order on the single crystal elastic constants of Pd0.5Ag0.5 alloy is also investigated. Within this thesis most of the calculations were performed using the Exact Muffin-Tin Orbitals method. The chemical and magnetic disorder are treated via the Coherent Potential Approximation. The paramagnetic phase is modeled by the Disordered Local Magnetic Moments approach.
|
|
| 2. |
- Delczeg-Czirjak, Erna-Krisztina, 1978-
(author)
-
Energy Relevant Materials: Investigations Based on First Principles
- 2010
-
Licentiate thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Energy production, storage and efficient usage are all crucial factors for environmentally sound and sustainable future technologies. One important question concerns the refrigeration industry, where the energy efficiency of the presently used technologies is at best 40% of the theoretical Carnot limit. Magnetic refrigerators offer a modern low-energy demand and environmentally friendly alternative. Iron phosphide based materials have been proposed to be amongst the most promising candidates for working body of magnetic refrigerators. Hydrogen is one of the central elements on the most promising sources of renewable energy. Considerable international research focuses on finding good solid state materials for hydrogen storage. On the other hand, hydrogen gas is obtained from hydrogen containing chemical compounds, which after breaking the chemical bounds usually yield to a mixture of different gases. Palladium-silver alloys are frequently used for hydrogen separation membranes for producing purified hydrogen gas. All these applications need a fundamental understanding of the structural, magnetic, chemical and thermophysical properties of the involved solid state materials. In the present thesis ab initio electronic structure methods are used to study the crystallographic and magnetic properties of Fe2P based magneto-caloric compounds and the thermophysical properties of Pd-Ag binary alloys. Lattice stability of pure Fe2P and the effect of Si doping on the phase stability are presented. In contrast to the observation, for the ferromagnetic state the body centered orthorhombic structure (bco, space group Imm2) is predicted to have lower energy than the hexagonal structure (hex, space group P62m). The zero-point spin fluctuation energy difference is found to be large enough to stabilize the hex phase. For the paramagnetic state, the hex structure is shown to be the stable phase and the computed total energy versus composition indicates a hex to bco crystallographic phase transition with increasing Si content. The magneto-structural effects and the mechanisms responsible for the structural phase transition are discussed in details. The magnetic properties of Fe2P can be subtly tailored by Mn doping. It has been shown experimentally that Mn atoms preferentially occupy one of the two different Fe sites of Fe2P. Theoretical results for the Mn site occupancy in MnFeP1-xSix are presented. The single crystal and polycrystalline elastic constants and the Debye temperature of Pd1-xAgx binary alloys are calculated for the whole range of concentration, 0≤x≤1. It is shown that the variation of the elastic parameters of Pd-Ag alloys with chemical composition strongly deviates from the simple expected trend. The complex electronic origin of these anomalies is demonstrated. Within the present thesis, all relaxed crystal structures are obtained using the Projector AugmentedWave full-potential method. The chemical and magnetic disorder is treated using the Exact Muffin-Tin Orbitals method in combination with the Coherent Potential Approximation. The paramagnetic phase is modeled by the Disordered Local Magnetic Moments approach.
|
|
| 3. |
- Dong, Zhihua
(author)
-
Temperature dependent mechanical properties of as-cast steels : Experimental and theoretical studies
- 2015
-
Licentiate thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The temperature-dependent mechanical properties of steels are important to avoid processing defects, to understand and to improve the high-temperature performance. At the same time, having access to thermal properties gives us opportunity to assess the first-principles theoretical predictions at elevated temperatures. These properties are directly bound up with the performance of individual phase and also the evolving microstructure states at different thermalmechanical processes. In the present thesis, the temperature-dependent mechanical properties of continuously cast steels and iron are investigated using experimental and theoretical methods. Experimental studies are performed centering on the influence of thermal cycles occurring in secondary cooling.The temperature reversion in secondary cooling makes the hot ductility trough occurring at higher temperatures with greater depth. Increasing the reversion rate, the low temperature end of the ductility trough slightly extends to lower temperatures. As indicated by microstructure examinations, the intergranular fracture contributed from the thin film-like ferrite and (Fe,Mn)S particles slightly changes with the varying thermal cycles; however, the widmanstatten ferrite observed in the temperature reversion process seriously deteriorates the ductility. Due to the temperature reversion process, the peak stress slightly declines and the peak of strain to peak stress moves to higher temperatures. On the other hand, the sequential formations of ferrite and pearlite in the austenite transformation are indicated by two distinct peaks on the thermal expansion coefficient. By applying the developed concise model, the volume fractions of ferrite, pearlite, and austenite are quantitatively monitored in the phase transformation. Either increasing the cooling rate or the content of austenite stabilizing atoms Ni and Cu, the austenite transformation occurs at relatively low temperatures and indicates a greater phase transformation rate for both ferrite and pearlite. In addition, the final fraction of ferrite/pearlite increases/decreases with increasing the cooling rate, increasing the alloying atoms like Ni, Cr and Cu or lowering the carbon content.The temperature dependence of the polycrystalline Young’s modulus and the tetragonal shear modulus c0 of iron is predicted using ab initio calculations within the exact muffin-tin orbitals formalism. The dependence exhibits a good consistency with that of the peak stress observed in the experiments for the commercial steel. Despite the significant effects of magnetic sate and crystal structure on the elastic property of iron, the magneto-volume coupling primarily determines the temperature dependence for the single phase. In contrast, the dominant role of the volume expansion is observed for both the paramagnetic (PM) face centered cubic (fcc) and body centered cubic (bcc) Fe, although they show different magneto-elastic behaviors. Based on the theoretically predicted thermal expansion for PM bcc Fe, both the lattice vibrations and the magnetic evolution contribute to the thermal expansion, and the former is dominant.
|
|
| 4. |
- Li, Wei
(author)
-
First-principles description of planar faults in metals and alloys
- 2014
-
Licentiate thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Phase interface and stacking fault are two common planar defects in metallic materials. In the present thesis, the interfacial energy and the generalized stacking fault energy of random alloys are investigated using density functional theory formulated within the exact muffin-tin orbitals (EMTO) method in combination with the coherent-potential approximation (CPA).The interfacial energy is one of the key physical parameters controlling the formation of the Cr-richα’ phases during the phase decomposition in Fe-Cr ferrite stainless steels. This decomposition is believed to cause the so-called“475°C embrittlement”. Aluminum addition to ferritic stainless steels was found to effectively suppress the deleterious 475oC embrittlement. The effect of Al on the interfacial energy and the formation energy of Fe-Cr solid solutions are studied in this thesis. The interface between the decomposed Fe-rich α and Cr-rich α phases carries a positive excess energy, which represents a barrier for the process of phase separation. Our results show that for the α-Fe70Cr20Al10/α0-Fe100−x−yCryAlx(0≤x≤10, 55≤y≤80) interface, the Al content(x) barely changes the interfacial energy. However, when Al is partitioned only in the alpha phase, i.e. for the α-Fe100−x−yCryAlx/α0-Fe10Cr90(0≤x≤10,0≤y≤25) interface, the interfacial energy increases with Al concentration due to the variation of the formation energies of the Fe-Cr alloys upon Al alloying. The intrinsic energy barriers (IEBs) of the γ surface (also called generalized stacking fault energy, GSFE) provide fundamental physics for understanding the plastic deformation mechanisms in face-centred cubic metals and alloys. In this thesis, the GSFEs of the disordered Cu-X (X=Al, Zn, Ga, Ni) and Pd-X (X=Ag,Au) alloys are calculated. Studying the effect of segregation of the solutes to the stacking fault planes shows that only the local chemical composition affects the GSFEs. Based on the calculated GSFEs values, the previously revealed “universal scaling law” between these IEBs is demonstrated to be well obeyed in random solid solutions. This greatly simplifies the calculations of the twinning parameters or the critical twinning stress. Adopting two twinnability measure parameters derived from the IEBs, we find that in binary Cu alloys, Al, Zn and Ga increase the twinnability, while Ni decreases it. Aluminum and gallium yield similar effects on the twinnability. Our theoretical predictions are in line with the available experimental data. These achievements open new possibilities in understanding and describing the plasticity of complex alloys.
|
|
| 5. |
- Lorand, Delczeg, 1980-
(author)
-
Density functional study of mono-vancacies in metals and austenitic steel alloys
- 2013
-
Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Trough the following pages a comprehensive study of open structures will be shown, including mono-vacancy calculations and open surfaces. These are electronic structure calculations using density functional theory within the exact muffin tin method.First I investigate the accuracy of five common density functional approximations for the theoretical description of the formation energy of mono-vacancies in three close packed metals. Besides the local density approximation (LDA), I consider two generalized gradient approximation developed by Perdew and co-workers (PBE and PBEsol) and two gradient-level functionals obtained within the subsystem functional approach (AM05 and LAG). As test cases, I select aluminium, nickel and copper, all of them adopting the face centered cubic crystallographic structure.This investigation is followed by a performance comparison of the three common gradient level exchange-correlation functionals for metallic bulk, surface and vacancy systems. I find that approximations which by construction give similar results for the jellium surface, show large deviations for realistic systems. The particular charge density and density gradient dependence of the exchange-correlation energy densities is shown to be the reason behind the obtained differences. Our findings confirm that both the global (total energy) and the local (energy density) behavior of the exchange-correlation functional should be monitored for a consistent functional design.I also calculate the vacancy formation energies of paramagnetic face centered cubic (fcc) Fe-Cr-Ni alloys as a function of chemical composition. These alloys are well known model systems for low carbon austenitic stainless steels. The theoretical predictions obtained for homogeneous chemistry and relaxed nearest neighbor lattice sites are in line with the experimental observations. In particular, Ni is found to decrease and Cr increase the vacancy formation energy of the ternary system. The results are interpreted in terms of effective chemical potentials. The impact of vacancy on the local magnetic properties of austenitic steel alloys is also investigated.I made a performance comparison of local density and generalized gradient level approach on substitutional defects in five light actinides. This is a complex test for high density calculations to check the weaknesses of the local density approximation against gradient level ones. I believe the existing other gradient level approaches fit our error bar in the obtained data and shows similar trends against the very limited number of experimental data. Based on our ab initio results, I predict that vacancies are more easily formed (more stable) in the fcc(bcc) lattice for U, Np and Pu and in the bcc(fcc) lattice for Th and Pa.
|
|
| 6. |
- Lukinov, Tymofiy, 1982-
(author)
-
Atomistic modeling of materials under extreme pressure
- 2014
-
Licentiate thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- This thesis is dealing with simulation of polycrystalline materials underthe conditions of anisotropic pressure and temperature. Work has been carriedout in three steps:ˆ Research of the inuence of point defects and grain boundaries on theprocess of melting. The inuence of defects' concentration, grain sizeand lattice direction mismatch on the superheating temperature wasstudied.ˆ Investigation of the boundaries of application of the metadynamics methodto the simple atomic model with Buckingham interaction. The solidsolidphase transition, where one of the phases has temperature inducedstability was conrmed. We found the optimal size of simulation boxto study the solid-solid phase transitions using the metadynamics technique.ˆ A model of polycrystalline materials based on macroscopic approximationwas formulated. This model was applied to the model of the polycrystallinematerial using cellular automata. Using this approximationthe eect of anisotropic stress caused by anisotropic heating was studied.
|
|
| 7. |
- Nordström, Joakim, 1971-, et al.
(author)
-
Temperature study of deformation twinning behaviour in nickel-base Superalloy 625
- 2024
-
In: Materials Science & Engineering. - : Elsevier BV. - 0921-5093 .- 1873-4936. ; 907
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Deformation behaviour in the Nickel-base superalloy 625 has been studied by tensile testing at four temperatures: 295, 223, 173 and 77 K. The microstructure has been investigated using TEM, FIB-SEM, EBSD and ECCI techniques. Deformation in the alloy turns out to be a competitive course of events between at least two deformation mechanisms, namely dislocation slip and deformation twinning. Slip is the predominant deformation mechanism at higher temperatures. While at 77 K, deformation induced twinning gives an extra degree of freedom as one of the main deformation mechanisms, i.e., the material shows a twin induced plasticity, TWIP, behaviour. Ab initio calculations indicate that the influence of cryogenic/sub-zero temperatures on the stacking fault energy of this alloy can be limited and therefore the formation of deformation twins cannot be determined solely by the stacking fault energy. The results implies that critical strain and strain hardening rate influences the deformation twinning onset and twinning rate.
|
|
| 8. |
- Sun, Xun, 1992-
(author)
-
Ab initio Investigation of Al-doped CrMnFeCoNi High-Entropy Alloys
- 2019
-
Licentiate thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- High-entropy alloys (HEAs) represent a special group of solid solutions containing five or more principal elements. The new design strategy has attracted extensive attention from the materials science community. The design and development of HEAs with desired properties have become an important subject in materials science and technology. For understanding the basic properties of HEAs, here we investigate the magnetic properties, Curie temperatures, electronic structures, phase stabilities, and elastic properties of paramagnetic (PM) body-centered cubic (bcc) and face-centered cubic (fcc) AlxCrMnFeCoNi (0 ≤ x ≤ 5, in molar fraction) HEAs using the first-principles exact muffin-tin orbitals (EMTO) method in combination with the coherent potential approximation (CPA) for dealing with the chemical and magnetic disorder.Whenever possible, we compare the theoretical predictions to the available experimental data in order to verify our methodology. In addition, we make use of the previous theoretical investigations carried out on AlxCrFeCoNi HEAs to reveal and understand the role of Mn in the present HEAs. The theoretical lattice constants are found to increase with increasing x, which is in good agreement with the available experimental data. The magnetic transition temperature for the bcc structure strongly decreases with x, whereas that for the fcc structure shows a weak composition dependence. Within their own stability fields, both structures are predicted to be PM at ambient conditions. Upon Al addition, the crystal structure changes from fcc to bcc with a broad two-phase field region, in line with the observations. Bain path calculations suggest that within the duplex region both phases are dynamically stable.Comparison with available experimental data demonstrates that the employed approach describes accurately the elastic moduli of the present HEAs. The elastic parameters exhibit complex composition dependences, although the predicted lattice constants increase monotonously with Al addition. The elastic anisotropy is unusually high for both phases. The brittle/ductile transitions formulated in terms of Cauchy pressure and Pugh ratio become consistent only when the strong elastic anisotropy is accounted for. The negative Cauchy pressure of CrMnFeCoNi is found to be due to the relatively low bulk modulus and C12 elastic constant, which in turn are consistent with the relatively low cohesive energy. Our findings in combination with the experimental data suggest anomalous metallic character for the present HEAs system.The work and results presented in this thesis give a good background to go further and study the plasticity of AlxCrMnFeCoNi type of HEAs as a function of chemistry and temperature. This is a very challenging task and only a very careful pre-study concerning the phase stability, magnetism and elasticity can provide enough information to turn my plan regarding ab initio description of the thermo-plastic deformation mechanisms in AlxCrMnFeCoNi HEAs into a successful research.
|
|
| 9. |
- Sun, Xun, Bachelor of Engineering, 1992-
(author)
-
Ab initio Investigation of Face-centered cubic High-Entropy Alloys
- 2020
-
Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- High-entropy alloys (HEAs) represent a special group of solid solutions containing five or more principal elements. The new design strategy has attracted extensive attention from the materials science community. The design and development of HEAs with desired properties have become an important subject in materials science and technology. Herein this case, I investigate the basic properties of paramagnetic (PM) HEAs, including the magnetic properties, Curie temperatures, electronic structures, phase stabilities, and elastic properties using the first-principles exact muffin-tin orbitals (EMTO) method in combination with the coherent potential approximation (CPA) for dealing with the chemical and magnetic disorder. To understand and model the mechanical properties of face-centered cubic (fcc) HEAs, I also study the generalized stacking fault energy (GSFE), negative stacking fault energy (SFE) and twinning mechanism of various HEAs. Thesis focuses mainly on AlxCrMnFeCoNi (0 ≤ x ≤ 5, in molar fraction) and related HEAs.Whenever possible, I compare the theoretical predictions to the available experimental data in order to verify the employed ab initio methodology. I make use of the previous theoretical investigations carried out on AlxCrFeCoNi HEAs to reveal and understand the role of Mn in AlxCrMnFeCoNi HEAs. The theoretical lattice constants are found to increase with increasing x, which is in good agreement with the available experimental data. The magnetic transition temperature for the body-centered cubic (bcc) structure strongly decreases with x, whereas that for the fcc structure shows a weak composition dependence. Within their own stability fields, both structures are predicted to be PM at ambient conditions. Upon Al addition, the crystal structure changes from fcc to bcc with a broad two-phase field region, in line with the observations. Bain path calculations suggest that within the duplex region both phases are dynamically stable.Comparison with available experimental data demonstrates that the employed approach describes accurately the elastic moduli of the present HEAs. The elastic parameters exhibit complex composition dependences and the elastic anisotropy is unusually high for both cubic phases. The brittle/ductile transitions formulated in terms of Cauchy pressure and Pugh ratio become consistent only when the strong elastic anisotropy is accounted for. The negative Cauchy pressure of CrMnFeCoNi is found to be due to the relatively low bulk modulus and C12 elastic constant, which in turn are consistent with the relatively low cohesive energy. Our findings in combination with the experimental data suggest anomalous metallic character for the present HEAs system.The negative SFE of fcc medium-entropy alloys (MEAs) and HEAs originate from the metastable character of the fcc phase. I argue that the common models underlying the experimental measurements of SFE fail in metastable alloys. Considering various metals including concentrated solid solutions, I demonstrate that in contrast to the experimentally measured SFEs, the SFEs obtained by DFT calculations correlate well with the primary deformation mechanisms observed experimentally in these alloys. In the case of negative SFE (or in metastable fcc alloys), the transformation-mediated twinning (TMT) is the predominant mechanism instead of the layer-by-layer twinning mechanism. It provides a continuous avenue for strain accommodation and strain hardening, realizing the joint transformation-induced plasticity and twinning-induced plasticity in the same system, and thus enabling the simultaneous improvement of strength and ductility. For the fcc CrMnFeCoNi HEA, upon Al addition or temperature increase, the intrinsic and extrinsic stacking fault energies increase, whereas the hexagonal close packed (hcp)/fcc interfacial energy stays almost constant.The work and results presented in this thesis give a good background to go further and study the plasticity of fcc HEAs as a function of chemistry and temperature. This is a very challenging task and only a very careful pre-study concerning the phase stability, magnetism, elasticity and GSFE can provide enough information to turn my plan regarding ab initio description of the thermo-plastic deformation mechanisms in fcc HEAs into a successful research. The novel TMT mechanism disclosed for the first time by myself and my colleagues advances our knowledge in plasticity and paves the road to design novel alloys with outstanding mechanical properties using quantum metallurgy.
|
|
| 10. |
- Tian, Fuyang, 1980-
(author)
-
Ab initio atomistic simulation of metals and multicomponent alloys
- 2013
-
Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Ab initio theory provides a powerful tool to understand and predict the behavior of materials. This thesis contains both of these aspects. First we use ab initio alloy theory to investigate a new kind of complex alloy (high-entropy alloy). Second we introduce a novel potential (interlayer potential), which can be extracted from ab inito total energy calculations using the Chen-Möbius inversion method.High-entropy alloys (HEAs) are composed of four or more metallic elements with nearly equimolar composition. In spite of the large number of components, most of the HEAs have a simple solid-solution phase rather than forming complex intermetallic structures. Extensive experiments have reported the unique microstructures and special properties of HEAs. Single-phase HEAs may be divided into three types, i.e. the3d-HEAs adopting the face centered cubic (fcc) phase, the refractory-HEAs with a body centered cubic (bcc) phase, and the HEAs with the duplex fcc-bcc structure. We employ the exact muffin-tin orbitals (EMTO) method in combination with the coherent potential approximation (CPA) to investigate the electronic structure, the equilibrium volume and the elastic properties of these three-type HEAs.First we compare the CPA with the super cell technique (SC) to assess the performance of the EMTO-CPA method. As typical fcc 3d-HEAs, we consider the CuNiCoFeCrTix systems in the paramagnetic state. Starting from the calculated electronic structure, we give an explanation for the observed magnetic states. Furthermore, we provide a theoretical prediction for the elastic parameters and polycrystalline elastic moduli for CuNiCoFeCrTix (x= 0.0−0.5, 1.0) and NiCoTeCrTi. A detailed comparison between the theoretical results and the available experimental data demonstrates that ab initio theory can properly describe the fundamental properties of this important class of engineering alloys.Refractory-HEAs are composed of Ti, Zr, Hf, V, Nb, Ta, Mo, and W. These HEAs have a simple bcc structure. Taking the TiZrNbMoVx and TiZrVNb HEAs as examples, we provide a detailed investigation of the effect of alloying elements on the elastic parameters and the elastic isotropy. Our results indicate that vanadium enhances the anisotropy and ductility of TiZrNbMoVx. As an application of the present theoretical database, we verify the often quoted correlation between the valence charge concentration (VEC) and the micro-mechanical properties in the case of multi-component alloys. Furthermore, we predict that the present HEAs become elastically isotropic for VEC ≃ 4.72.With increase of the aluminum content, phase transformations (fcc→(fcc+bcc)→bcc) occur in NiCoFeCrAlx HEAs. Our ab initio results predict that at room temperature the paramagnetic NiCoFeCrAlx HEAs adopt the fcc structure for x ≤ 0.60 and the bcc structure for x ≥ 1.23, with an fcc-bcc duplex region in between the two pure phases. The calculated single- and polycrystal elastic parameters exhibit strong composition and crystal structure dependence. Based on the present theoretical findings, it is concluded that alloys around the equimolar NiCoFeCrAl composition have superior mechanical performance as compared to the single-phase regions.Many modern materials and material systems are layered. The properties related to layers are connected to interactions between atomic layers. We introduce the interlayer potential (ILP), a novel model potential which fully describes the interaction between layers. The ILPs are different from the usual interatomic potentials which present inter- action between atoms. We use the Chen-Möbius inversion method to extract the ILPs from ab initio total energy calculations. The so obtained ILPs can be employed to investigate several physical parameters connected with the particular set of atomic layers, e.g. surface energy, stacking fault energy, elastic parameters, etc.As an application, we adopt the supercell method and the axial interaction model in connection with the ILPs to calculate the stacking fault energy along the fcc ⟨111⟩ direction, including the intrinsic stacking fault energy, extrinsic stacking fault energy and twin stacking fault energy as well as the interactions between the intrinsic stacking faults. We find that the data derived from ILPs are consistent with those obtained in direct ab initio calculations. Along the fcc ⟨111⟩ direction, we study the surface energy and surface relaxation using the ILPs. The phonon dispersions are also described.Our conclusions are as followsthe EMTO-CPAab initioalloy theory can be used to understand and predict the fundamental properties of multicomponent alloys.the interlayer potentials based on the Chen-Möbius inversion method may provide a new way to investigate the properties related to layers in layered materials,the EMTO-CPA alloy theory combined with the Chen-Möbius inversion method offers a powerful technique to study the properties of complex alloys.
|
|
