Good high-temperature corrosion resistance of Fe-Al alloys in oxidizing environments is due to the alpha-Al2O3 film which is formed on the surface provided temperature is above 900 degrees C and the Al-content of the alloy exceeds the critical value. Ab initio calculations combined with experiments on Fe-13Al, Fe-18Al, Fe-23Al and Fe-10Cr-10Al alloys show that the beneficial effect of Cr on the oxidation resistance is significantly related to bulk effects. The comparison of experimental and calculated results indicates a clear correlation between the Fe-Cr chemical potential difference and the formation of the protective oxide scales. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
The third element effect to improve the high temperature corrosion resistance of the low-Al Fe-Cr-Al alloys is suggested to involve a mechanism that boosts the recovering of the Al concentration to the required level in the Al-depleted zone beneath the oxide layer. We propose that the key factor in this mechanism is the coexistent Cr depletion that helps to maintain a sufficient Al content in the depleted zone. Several previous experiments related to our study support that conditions for such a mechanism to be functional prevail in real oxidation processes of Fe-Cr-Al alloys.
Iron-chromium is the base material for most of the stainless steel grades. Recently, new insights into the origins of fundamental physical and chemical characteristics of Fe-Cr based alloys have been achieved. Some of the new results are quite unexpected and call for further investigations. The present study focuses on the magnetic contribution in the atomic driving forces related to the chemical composition in Fe-Cr when alloyed with Al, Ti, V, Mn, Co, Ni, and Mo. Using the ab initio exact muffin-tin orbitals method combined with an Ising-type spin model, we demonstrate that the magnetic moment of the solute atoms with the induced changes in the magnetic moments of the host atoms form the main factor in determining the mixing energy and chemical potentials of low-Cr Fe-Cr based alloys. The results obtained in the present work are related to the designing and tuning of the microstructure and corrosion protection of low-Cr steels.
The reversal of the magnitudes of the bulk and surface chemical-potential differences induces the outburst of Cr on the otherwise pure Fe surface of Fe-Cr alloys. This threshold value for the Cr content is about 10 at. %. It is found that vanadium addition to Fe-Cr shifts the Cr threshold to a substantially lower value suggesting V having a positive effect on the corrosion resistance of low Cr steels. The obtained shift in the Cr threshold is shown to be connected to the change in volume of the alloy.
We describe recent progress in first principles materials modelling applied to iron alloys. First principles methods in general have proven to be an effective way of describing atomic level phenomena in solids. When applied to alloys with chemical disorder, however, the widely used supercell methods turn out to be impractical due to the vast variety of different possible configurations. This problem can be overcome using the coherent potential approximation (CPA), which enables the description of a multicomponent alloy in terms of an effective medium constructed in such a way that it represents, on the average, the scattering properties of the alloy. A bulk alloy, in the case of substitutional random alloys, can thus be described with a single atom while a slab is needed to describe surfaces. The exact muffin-tin orbitals (EMTO) method provides a first principles method that can be combined with the CPA in order to describe steels and other multicomponent alloys. We describe the EMTO-CPA method and provide examples of both bulk and surface properties that can be modelled with this method.
We scrutinise the muffin-tin approximation and the screening within the framework of the Exact Muffin-Tin Orbitals method in the case of cubic and tetragonal crystal symmetries. Systematic total energy calculations are carried out for the Bain path including the body-centred cubic and face-centred cubic structures for a set of simple and transition metals. The present converged results in terms of potential sphere radius (S) and hard sphere radius (b) are in good agreement with previous theoretical calculations. We demonstrate that for all structures considered here, potential sphere radii around and slightly larger than the average Wigner–Seitz radius (w) yield accurate total energy results whereas S values smaller than w give large errors. It is shown that for converged total energies hard spheres with radii b = 0.7–0.8w should be used for an efficient screening within real space clusters consisting typically of 70–90 lattice sites. The less efficient convergence of the total energy in the case of small hard spheres is ascribed to the delocalisation of the screened spherical waves, which leads to inaccurate interstitial overlap matrix. The above conclusions are not significantly affected by the volume of the system.
Employing the first-principles exact muffin-tin orbital method in combination with the coherent potential approximation, we calculated the total energy and local magnetic moments of paramagnetic Fe-Cr-M (M = Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni) alloys along the tetragonal distortion (Bain) path connecting the body centered cubic (bcc) and the face centered cubic (fcc) structures. The paramagnetic phase is modeled by the disordered local magnetic moment scheme. For all alloys, the local magnetic moments on Fe atoms decrease from the maximum value corresponding to the bcc phase toward the minimum value realized for the fcc phase. Cobalt atoms have non-vanishing local magnetic moments only for tetragonal lattices with c/a < 1.30, whereas the local magnetic moments of Mn show weak crystal structure dependence. We find that Cr stabilizes the bcc lattice and increases the energy barrier as going from the bcc toward the fcc phase. Both Co and Ni favor the fcc lattice and decrease the energy barrier relative to the bcc phase. On the other hand, the tetragonal distortion around the fcc phase is facilitated by Cr and to a somewhat lesser extent also by Ni, but strongly impeded by Co. Manganese has negligible effect on the structural energy difference as well as on the energy barrier along the Bain path. Our findings on the alloying induced softening or hardening of Fe-Cr based alloys against tetragonal distortions are important for understanding the interstitial driven martensitic transformations in alloy steels.
We investigate the effect of manganese on lattice stability and magnetic moments of paramagnetic Fe-Cr-Mn steel alloys along the Bain path connecting the body-centered cubic (bcc) and face-centered cubic (fcc) structures. The calculations are carried out using the ab initio exact muffin-tin orbital method, in combination with the coherent potential approximation, and the paramagnetic phase is modeled by the disordered local magnetic moment scheme. For all Fe-Cr-Mn alloys considered here, the local magnetic moments on Fe atoms have the minimum values for the fcc structure and the maximum values for the bcc structure, whereas the local magnetic moments on Mn have almost the same value along the constant-volume Bain path. Our results show that Mn addition to paramagnetic Fe-Cr solid solution stabilizes the bcc structure. However, when considering the paramagnetic fcc phase relative to the ferromagnetic bcc ground state, then Mn turns out to be a clear fcc stabilizer, in line with observations.
We investigate the basis set convergence of the exact muffin-tin orbitals by monitoring the equation of state for Al, Cu, and Rh calculated in the conventional face-centered-cubic lattice (str-I) and in a face-centered-cubic lattice with one atomic and three empty sites per primitive cell (str-II). We demonstrate that three (spd) muffin-tin orbitals are sufficient to describe Al in both structures, but for str-II Cu and Rh at least five (spdfg) orbitals are needed to get converged equilibrium Wigner-Seitz radius (within <= 0.8%) and bulk modulus (<= 3.3%). We ascribe this slow convergence to the nearly spherical densities localized around the Cu and Rh atoms, which create strongly asymmetric charge distributions within the nearest cells around the empty sites. The potential sphere radius dependence of the theoretical results for structure str-II is discussed. It is shown that a properly optimized overlapping muffin-tin potential in combination with the spdfg basis yields acceptable errors in the equilibrium bulk properties. The basis set convergence is also shown on hydrogenated Sc and Sc-based alloys.
Ab initio total energy calculations, based on the projector augmented wave method and the exact mu±n-tin orbitals method in combination with the coherent-potential approximation, are used to examine the effect of magnesium on hydrogen absorption/desorption temperature and phase stability of hydrogenated ScAl1-xMgx (0 ≤ x ≤ 0:3) alloys. According to the experiments, ScAl1-xMgx adopts the CsCl structure, and upon hydrogen absorption it decomposes into ScH2 with CaF2 structure and Al-Mg with face centered cubic structure. Here we demonstrate that the stability field of the hydrogenated alloys depends sensitively on Mg content and on the microstructure of the decomposed system. For a given microstructure, the critical temperature for hydrogen absorption/desorption increases with Mg concentration.
Using the Exact Muffin-Tin Orbitals method within the Perdew-Burke-Ernzerhof exchange-correlation approximation for solids and solid surfaces (PBEso1), we study the single crystal elastic constants of 4d transition metals (atomic number Z between 39 and 47) and their binary alloys in the body centered cubic (bcc) and face centered cubic (fcc) structures. Alloys between the first neighbors Z(Z + 1) and between the second neighbors Z(Z + 2) are considered. The lattice constants, bulk moduli and elastic constants are found in good agreement with the available experimental and theoretical data. It is shown that the correlation between the relative tetragonal shear elastic constant C-fcc'-2C(bcc)' and the structural energy difference between the fcc and bcc lattices Delta E is superior to the previously considered models. For a given crystal structure, the equiatomic Z(Z + 2) alloys turn out to have similar structural and elastic properties as the pure elements with atomic number (Z + 1). Furthermore, alloys with composition Z(1-x)(Z + 2)(x) possess similar properties as Z(1-2x)(Z + 1)(2x). The present theoretical data on the structural and the elastic properties of 4d transition metal alloys provides consistent input for coarse scale modeling of material properties.
Using density-functional theory in combination with the exact muffin-tin orbital (EMTO) method and coherent potential approximation, we investigate the alloying effect on the tetragonality of Fe-C solid solution forming the basis of steels. In order to assess the accuracy of our approach, first we perform a detailed study of the performance of the EMTO method for the Fe(16)C(1) binary system by comparing the EMTO results to those obtained using the projector augmented wave method. In the second step, we introduce different substitutional alloying elements (Al, Cr, Co, Ni) into the Fe matrix and study their impact on the structural parameters. We demonstrate that a small amount of Al, Co, and Ni enhances the tetragonal lattice ratio of Fe(16)C(1) whereas Cr leaves the ratio almost unchanged. The obtained trends are correlated with the single-crystal elastic parameters calculated for carbon-free alloys.
The single-crystal and polycrystalline elastic constants and the elastic anisotropy in face-centered cubic and hexagonal close-packed FeNi alloys have been investigated at ultrahigh pressures by means of first-principles calculations using the exact muffin-tin orbitals method and the coherent-potential approximation. Comparisons with earlier calculations for pure Fe and experimental results are presented and discussed. We show that Ni alloying into Fe increases slightly the density and has very little effect on bulk moduli. Moreover, the relative decrease in c(44) elastic constant is much stronger in the hcp phase than in the fcc one. It is found that the elastic anisotropy is higher for face-centered cubic than for the hexagonal close-packed structure of FeNi, even though the face-centered cubic phase has a higher degree of symmetry. The anisotropy in face-centered cubic structure decreases with increasing nickel concentration while a very weak increase is observed for the hexagonal close-packed structure.
We present the results of combined density functional and many-body calculations of the electronic and magnetic properties of the defect-free digital ferromagnetic heterostructures obtained by doping GaAs with Cr and Mn. While the local-density approximation +U predicts half-metallicity in these defect-free delta-doped heterostructures, we demonstrate that local many-body correlations captured by dynamical mean-field theory induce within the minority-spin channel nonquasiparticle states just above E-F. As a consequence of the existence of these many-body states the half-metallic gap is closed and the carriers' spin polarization is significantly reduced. Below the Fermi level the minority-spin highest valence states are found to localize more on the GaAs layers, being independent of the type of electronic correlations considered. Thus, our results confirm the confinement of carriers in these delta-doped heterostructures, having a spin polarization that follows a different temperature dependence than the magnetization. We suggest that polarized hot-electron photoluminescence experiments might uncover evidence for the existence of many-body states within the minority-spin channel and elucidate their finite-temperature behavior.
Ab initio total energy calculations based on the exact muffin-tin orbitals method, combined with the coherent potential approximation, have been used to study the thermodynamical and elastic properties of substitutional refractory Ru1-xNixAl alloys. We have found that the elastic constants C' and C11 exhibit pronounced peculiarities near the concentration of about 40 at. % Ni, which we ascribe to electronic topological transitions. Our suggestion is supported by the Fermi surface calculations in the whole concentration range. Results of our calculations show that one can design Ru-Ni-Al alloys substituting Ru by Ni (up to 40 at. %) with almost invariable elastic constants and reduced density.
The AlxMoNbTiV (x = 0-1.5) high-entropy alloys (HEAs) adopt a single solid-solution phase, having the body centered cubic (bcc) crystal structure. Here we employ the ab initio exact muffin-tin orbitals method in combination with the coherent potential approximation to investigate the equilibrium volume, elastic constants, and polycrystalline elastic moduli of AlxMoNbTiV HEAs. A comparison between the ab initio and experimental equilibrium volumes demonstrates the validity and accuracy of the present approach. Our results indicate that Al addition decreases the thermodynamic stability of the bcc structure with respect to face-centered cubic and hexagonal close packed lattices. For the elastically isotropic Al0.4MoNbTiV HEAs, the valence electron concentration (VEC) is about 4.82, which is slightly different from VEC similar to 4.72 obtained for the isotropic Gum metals and refractory-HEAs.
The hysteresis that occurs during superelasticity caused by the stress-induced first-order martensite transformation is sometimes detrimental to the properties of superelastic materials. In this paper, first-principles calculations are performed to systematically investigate the effects of the chemical composition and crystal disorder on the superelasticity of Ni50-xCoxM25Ga25 (M = Mn, Fe) Heusler alloys. Calculations of the stress-strain relation in the studied alloys reproduce the recent experimental findings for nonhysteretic superelasticity within an acceptable range of composition and ordering. We evaluate the Bloch spectral function to study the Fermi surface topology in connection with nonhysteretic superelasticity. We propose the Landau-de Gennes model-dependent critical parameter P-c, which can be used to predict the composition range of nonhysteretic superelastic materials. For the ferromagnetic L2(1) Ni50-xCoxMn25Ga25 and B2 Ni50-xCoxFe25Ga25 alloys, the nonhysteretic superelasticity phenomenon theoretically occurs for Co contents over x = 16 at.% and x = 28 at.%, respectively.
The influence of nitrogen on the mechanical properties of two high Ni containing advanced austenitic stainless steels with low stacking fault energies is investigated. The results show that increase of nitrogen content greatly increases both strength and elongation of the steel at the same time. At the cryogenic temperature, the steels show a twin induced plasticity behavior. Ab initio calculations indicate that the increase of nitrogen slightly increases the stacking fault energy and consequently the critical shear stress for twin initiation in the steel. However, addition of nitrogen significantly increases the flow stress. This leads to a smaller critical strain for twin initiation and promotes deformation twinning in the high nitrogen steel. This is confirmed by the microstructure investigation. Deformation in steels is a competitive process between slip and twinning. Dislocation slip is dominant at low strain range, but formation of stacking fault and twinning become important in the later stages of deformation. At cryogenic temperature, it is mainly deformation twinning. The influence of nitrogen addition on magnetic property and its effect on deformation twinning are also discussed. The present study increases the understanding for the development of high-performance and low-cost advanced austenitic stainless steels.
Superelasticity associated with the martensitic transformation has found a broad range of engineering applications1,2. However, the intrinsic hysteresis3 and temperature sensitivity4 of the first-order phase transformation significantly hinder the usage of smart metallic components in many critical areas. Here, we report a large superelasticity up to 15.2% strain in [001]-oriented NiCoFeGa single crystals, exhibiting non-hysteretic mechanical responses, a small temperature dependence and high-energy-storage capability and cyclic stability over a wide temperature and composition range. In situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction measurements show that the superelasticity is correlated with a stress-induced continuous variation of lattice parameter accompanied by structural fluctuation. Neutron diffraction and electron microscopy observations reveal an unprecedented microstructure consisting of atomic-level entanglement of ordered and disordered crystal structures, which can be manipulated to tune the superelasticity. The discovery of the large elasticity related to the entangled structure paves the way for exploiting elastic strain engineering and development of related functional materials.
We propose a method to compute the transmission through correlated heterostructures by combining density functional and many-body dynamical mean field theories. The heart of this combination consists in porting the many-body self-energy from an all electron basis into a pseudopotential localized atomic basis set. Using this combination we study the effects of local electronic interactions and finite temperatures on the transmission across the Cu4CoCu4 metallic heterostructure. It is shown that as the electronic correlations are taken into account via a local but dynamic self-energy, the total transmission at the Fermi level gets reduced (predominantly in the minority-spin channel), whereby the spin polarization of the transmission increases. The latter is due to a more significant d-electron contribution, as compared to the noncorrelated case in which the transport is dominated by s and p electrons.
We propose a self-consistent method for electronic structure calculations of correlated systems, which combines the local spin-density approximation (LSDA) and the dynamical mean field theory (DMFT). The LSDA part is based on the exact muffin-tin orbital approach, meanwhile the DMFT uses a perturbation scheme that includes the T matrix with fluctuation exchange approximation. The current LSDA+DMFT implementation fulfills both self-energy and charge self-consistency requirements. We present results on the electronic structure calculations for bulk 3d transition metals (Cr, Fe, and Ni) and for Fe/Cr magnetic multilayers. The latter demonstrates the importance of the correlation effects for the properties of magnetic heterostructures.
It is known that the formation of ordered phases causes the brittleness of electrical steels. We employed first-principles method in order to examine the possibility of the ordered-phases formation in Fe-Si alloys. It is found that the D03-like ordered configuration is most stable among other atomic configurations in the ferromagnetic state. In the paramagnetic state, for low Si concentration, the stability of the ordered configurations is comparable to that of disordered ones. However, as Si content increases, the B2 ordered phase as well as the D03 phase becomes more stable than the disordered ones.
The hexagonal close-packed (hcp) phase of iron is unstable under ambient conditions. The limited amount of existing experimental data for this system has been obtained by extrapolating the parameters of hcp Fe-Mn alloys to pure Fe. On the theory side, most density functional theory (DFT) studies on hcp Fe have considered non-magnetic or ferromagnetic states, both having limited relevance in view of the current understanding of the system. Here, we investigate the equilibrium properties of paramagnetic hcp Fe using DFT modelling in combination with alloy theory. We show that the theoretical equilibrium c/a and the equation of state of hcp Fe become consistent with the experimental values when the magnetic disorder is properly accounted for. Longitudinal spin fluctuation effects further improve the theoretical description. The present study provides useful data on hcp Fe at ambient and hydrostatic pressure conditions, contributing largely to the development of accurate thermodynamic modelling of Fe-based alloys.
Aluminum and silicon are common alloying elements for tuning the stacking fault energy (SFE) of high Mn steels. Today the theoretical investigations on the Fe-Mn-Al/Si systems using Density Functional Theory (DFT) are very scarce. In the present study, we employ a state-of-the-art longitudinal spin fluctuations (LSFs) model in combination with DFT for describing the magnetic effects in Fe-Mn based alloys at finite temperature. We find that the traditional DFT-floating spin results fail to explain the experimental trends. However, the DFT-LSFs approach properly captures the Al-induced increase and Si-induced decrease of the SFE of the base alloy in line with the room-temperature observations. This finding highlights the importance of LSFs in describing the Al/Si effects on the SEE of Fe-Mn based alloys. We point out that the effects of the non-magnetic Al and Si additions on the SEE are in fact determined by the magnetic state of the host matrix. In addition, we estimate the role of carbon addition in the alloying effects of Al and Si. The present results provide a convenient pathway to access the important mechanical parameters for designing advanced high-strength alloys.
This paper reports an experimental and theoretical study of composition and temperature dependence of alpha(2) phase decomposition in lamellar gamma-Ti -(43 similar to 47)Al-(4 similar to 10)Nb alloys. The alpha(2) phase decomposes to nano-sized orthorhombic (O) phase in the alloys (the Nb content >= 5.5 at.%) at temperatures of 550 similar to 750 degrees C. The transformation temperature decreases with increasing the Al content, but increases with increasing the Nb content. The Nb partitioning coefficient between O and alpha(2) typically equals to 2, and decreases with increasing the Al content and temperature, confirming that the O phase transformation is controlled by Nb diffusion. The alpha(2) to omega(0) phase transformation takes place in the alloys (the Nb content > 7 at.%) at 800 degrees C. The blocky omega(0) phase is enriched in Nb and the Nb partitioning coefficient between omega(0) and alpha(2) is about 1.3, indicating that the omega(0) phase transformation is also related to Nb diffusion. The pseudo-binary phase diagram calculated by first-principles correctly predicts the alpha(2) to O phase transformation at temperature below 750 degrees C and alpha(2) to omega(0) phase transformation at temperature above 750 degrees C in the alloys. Since the alpha(2) phase is unstable thermodynamically at intermediate temperature, such kinds of alpha(2) to O and omega(0) phase transformations are considered necessarily for design of high Nb-containing gamma-TiAl alloys.
First principles calculations are performed to study the effects of alloying elements (X = Al, Si, Sc, V, Cr, Mn, Cu, Zn, Y. Mo, Ta, W and Re) on the phase stability and elastic properties of TiZrHfNb refractory high entropy alloys. Both equimolar and non-equimolar alloys are considered. It is shown that the calculated lattice parameters, phase stability and elastic moduli of equimolar TiZrHfNbX are consistent with the available experimental and theoretical results. The substitutions of alloying elements at Ti, Zr, and Hf sites with various contents show similar effects on the phase stability and elastic properties of the TiZrHINb-based alloys. The substitutions on Nb site are found to generally decrease the stability of body centered cubic phase. Close connections between the charge densities at the Wigner-Seitz cell boundary and the bulk moduli of TiZrHfNb-based alloys are found. The present results provide a quantitative model for exploring the phase stability and elastic properties of TiZrHINb-based alloys from the electronic structure viewpoint. Elsevier Ltd.
The mechanisms of how alloying elements and oxygen influence the stability and elastic properties of binary Ti-X (X = Nb, Zr, or Sn) and Ti2448 (Ti-24Nb-4Zr-8Sn in wt.%) alloys are studied via first principles calculations. In addition to the fully disordered solid solution phase, we consider 44 quasirandom configurations to search for the possible distributions of the alloying elements in Ti2448. Our results show that all alloying elements considered here are good β-stabilizers for Ti, and the formation energies are greatly affected by their distributions. The site preference of oxygen and its concentration dependence in binary Ti alloys and in Ti2448 are also investigated. Oxygen prefers to occupy the octahedral site regardless of the concentrations of the alloys and strongly interacts with Ti and Nb in Ti-Nb. The elastic properties of Ti2448 alloy and the influence of oxygen on the elastic parameters are evaluated. The calculated polycrystalline Young's modulus of the Ti2448 alloy is very close to that of the human bone (10-40 GPa). We find that oxygen has a weak effect on the elastic moduli of Ti2448. The electronic structures are analyzed to reveal how the alloying elements and oxygen influence the stability of binary Ti-X and Ti2448 alloys.
We have conducted an in-depth study of the magnetic phase due to a spinodal decomposition of the BCC phase of a CrFe-rich composition. This magnetic phase is present after casting (arc melting) or water quenching after annealing at 1250 degrees C for 24 h but is entirely absent after annealing in the interval 900-1100 degrees C for 24 h. Its formation is favored in the temperature interval ca 450-550 degrees C and loses magnetization above 640 degrees C. This ferromagnetic-paramagnetic transition is due to a structural transformation from ferromagnetic BCC into paramagnetic sigma and FCC phases. The conclusion from measurements at different heating rates is that both the transformation leading to the increase of the magnetization due to the spinodal decomposition of the parent phase and the vanishing magnetization at 640 degrees C are diffusion controlled.
The present work investigates how the vanadium (V) content in a series of Al50V (x) (Cr0.33Mn0.33Co0.33)((50-x)) (x = 12.5, 6.5, 3.5, and 0.5 at.%) high-entropy alloys affects the local magnetic moment and magnetic transition temperature as a step towards developing high-entropy functional materials for magnetic refrigeration. This has been achieved by carrying out experimental investigations on induction melted alloys and comparison to ab initio and thermodynamic calculations. Structural characterization by x-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy indicates a dual-phase microstructure containing a disordered body-centered cubic (BCC) phase and a B2 phase with long-range order, which significantly differ in the Co and V contents. Ab initio calculations demonstrate a weaker magnetization and lower magnetic transition temperature (T
This study investigates the magnetocaloric potential of the Al50Cr21-xMn17+xCo12 (x=0, 4, 8 at%) high-entropy alloy (HEA) series using integrated experimental and theoretical approaches. Structural analysis by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy indicate a dual phase containing B2 and body-centered cubic (BCC) structures. Magnetic characterization shows an approximately linear decrease in saturation magnetization and Curie temperature with increasing Cr content. Curie temperatures calculated by Monte Carlo simulations suggest that the measured magnetic properties originate from the B2 phase rather than the BCC phase. The enhanced magnetocaloric effect with decreasing Cr content highlights the attractiveness of HEAs in magnetocaloric applications.
We compare the performances of three common gradient-level exchange-correlation functionals for metallic bulk, surface and vacancy systems. We 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 are 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.
Using the exact muffin-tin orbitals method, we investigate the accuracy of five common density functional approximations for the theoretical description of the formation energy of monovacancies in three close-packed metals. Besides the local density approximation (LDA), we 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, we select aluminum, nickel, and copper, all of them adopting the face centered cubic crystallographic structure. Our results show that, compared to the recommended experimental values, LDA is be the most reliable approximation for the vacancy formation energies in these metals. However, taking into account also the performances of the functionals for the equation of state changes the final verdict in favor of the generalized gradient approximations.
Using a first-principles computational method, we have calculated the vacancy formation energies of paramagnetic Fe-Cr-Ni alloys as a function of chemical composition. The theoretical predictions obtained for homogeneous chemistry and relaxed nearest-neighbors are in line with the experimental observation. In particular, Ni is found to decrease and Cr increase the vacancy formation energy of the ternary system.
Using first-principles alloy theory, we 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 to 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.
Using first-principles mean-field alloy theory, we calculate the vacancy formation energies of the face-centered-cubic Pd-Ag alloys as a function of chemical composition. The effect of Fermi surface topological transition on the composition dependence of the vacancy formation energies is detectable and is consistent with what has previously been shown for the bulk properties of Pd1-xAgx.
We have analyzed by density functional theory calculations the structural and magnetic properties of Fe-Co alloys doped by carbon. In analogy with the formation of martensite in steels we predict that such a structure also forms for Fe-Co alloys in a wide range of concentrations. These alloys are predicted to have a stable tetragonal distortion, which in turn leads to an enhanced magnetocrystalline anisotropy energy of up to 0.75 MJ/m(3) and a saturated magnetization field of 1.9 T.
The strong coupling between the crystal structure and magnetic state (ferromagnetic or helical antiferromagnetic) of FeMnP0.75Si0.25 is investigated using density functional theory in combination with atomistic spin dynamics. We find many competing energy minima for drastically different ferromagnetic and noncollinear magnetic configurations. We also find that the appearance of a helical spin-spiral magnetic structure at finite temperature is strongly related to one of the crystal structures reported for this material. Shorter Fe-Fe distances are found to lead to a destabilized ferromagnetic coupling, while out-of-plane Mn-Mn exchange interactions become negative with the shortening of the interatomic distances along the c axis, implying an antiferromagnetic coupling for the nearest-neighbor Mn-Mn interactions. The impact of the local dynamical correlations is also discussed.
Di-iron phosphide (Fe2P) is a parent system for a set of magnetocaloric materials. Although the magnetic ordering temperature (T-C = 215 K) of the stoichiometric composition is too low for room-temperature magnetic refrigeration, the partial replacement of P with B, Si, or As elements results in a steep increase in the magnetic ordering temperature. Doping leads to different equilibrium volumes and hexagonal axial ratios (c/a) within the same crystallographic phase over a wide concentration range. Here, using first principles theory, we decompose the change in the total magnetic exchange interaction upon doping into chemical and structural contributions, the latter including the c/a-ratio and volume effects. We demonstrate that for the investigated alloys the structural effect can be ascribed mainly to the decrease in the c/a ratio that strengthens the magnetic exchange interactions between the two Fe sublattices.
Landau phenomenological theory in combination with first-principles calculations was used to reveal the origin of the metamagnetic nature and the unusually strong dependence of the ordering temperature with doping of the Fe2P compound. We show that the magnetism of the two sublattices occupied by Fe atoms has an entwined codependency, which is strongly influenced by alloying. We furthermore demonstrate that a constrained disordered local moment approach combined with Monte Carlo simulations can only reproduce the experimental ordering temperatures in these technologically important prototype alloys for magnetocaloric refrigeration.
Ab initio electronic-structure methods are used to study the properties of Fe(2)P(1-x)Si(x) in ferromagnetic and paramagnetic states. The site preference and lattice relaxation are calculated with the projector augmented wave method as implemented in the Vienna ab initio simulation package. The paramagnetic state is modeled by the disordered local magnetic moment scheme, and the chemical and magnetic disorder is treated using the coherent potential approximation in combination with the exact muffin-tin orbital formalism. The calculated lattice parameters, atomic positions, and magnetic properties are in good agreement with the experimental and other theoretical results. In contrast to the observation, for the ferromagnetic state the body centered ortho-rhombic structure (bco, space group I (mm2) under bar) is predicted to have lower energy than the hexagonal structure (hex, space group P (6) over bar 2m). 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 calculated 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 phonon vibrational free energy, estimated from the theoretical equation of state, turns out to stabilize the hexagonal phase, whereas the electronic and magnetic entropies favor the low symmetry orthorhombic structure.
Ab initio total-energy calculations, based on the exact muffin-tin orbital method, are used to determine the elastic properties of Pd1−xAgx random alloys in the face-centered-cubic crystallographic phase. The compositional disorder is treated within the coherent-potential approximation. The single crystal and polycrystalline elastic constants and the Debye temperature are calculated for the whole range of concentration, 0≤x≤1. It is shown that the variation in the elastic parameters of Pd-Ag alloys with chemical composition strongly deviates from a simple linear or parabolic trend. The complex electronic origin of these anomalies is demonstrated.
The effect of long-range order on single-crystal elastic constants of Pd(0.5)Ag(0.5) alloy has been investigated using first-principles electronic structure calculations. The lowest energy among the considered ordered, partially ordered, and disordered structures is found to be the L1(1) layered structure, which is formed by alternate (111) Pd and Ag layers. The ordering effect is found to follow a clear trend: in contrast to the disordered phase, for which the K(a) and K(c) compressibilities are equal, the L1(1) structure becomes less compressible along the c axis than along the a axis.
A concise model is applied to compute the microstructure evolution of austenite transformation by using the dilation curve of continuously cast steels. The model is verified by thermodynamic calculations and microstructure examinations. When applying the model, the phase fractions and the corresponding transforming rates during austenite transformation are investigated at various cooling rates and chemical compositions. In addition, ab initio calculations are performed for paramagnetic body-centered-cubic Fe to understand the thermal expansion behavior of steels at an atomic scale. Results indicate that by increasing the cooling rate, the final volume fraction of ferrite/pearlite will gradually increase/decrease with a greater transforming rate of ferrite. The ferrite fraction increases after austenite transformation with lowering of the carbon content and increasing of the substitutional alloying fractions. In the austenite transformation, the thermal expansion coefficient is sequentially determined by the forming rate of ferrite and pearlite. According to the ab initio theoretical calculations for the single phase of ferrite, thermal expansion emerges from magnetic evolution and lattice vibration, the latter playing the dominant role. The theoretical predictions for volume and thermal expansion coefficient are in good agreement with the experimental data.
High entropy alloys (HEAs) based on transition metals display rich magnetic characteristics, however attempts on their application in energy efficient technologies remain scarce. Here, we explore the magnetocaloric application for a series of MnxCr0.3Fe0.5Co0.2Ni0.5Al0.3 (0.8 < x < 1.1) HEAs by integrated theoretical and experimental methods. Both theory and experiment indicate the designed HEAs have the Curie temperature close to room temperature and is tunable with Mn concentration. A non-monotonic evolution is observed for both the entropy change and the relative cooling power with changing Mn concentration. The underlying atomic mechanism is found to primarily emerge from the complex impact of Mn on magnetism. Advanced magnetocaloric properties can be achieved by tuning Mn concentration in combination with controlling structural phase stability for the designed HEAs.
Using ab initio alloy theory, we calculate the impact of Ni on the stacking fault energy in austenitic stainless steel as a function of temperature. We show that the influence of Ni strongly couples with temperature. While a positive effect on the stacking fault energy is obtained at ambient temperature, the opposite negative effect is disclosed at elevated temperatures. An important rationale behind is demonstrated to be the variation of magneto-volume coupling induced by Ni alloying. The alloy influence on the finite temperature evolution of Ni impact is evaluated for elements Cr, Mo and N.
Using an efficient first-principles computational scheme for paramagnetic body-centered cubic (bcc) and face-centered cubic (fcc) Fe, we investigate the impact of thermal longitudinal spin fluctuations (LSFs) on the thermal lattice expansion. The equilibrium physical parameters are derived from the self-consistent Helmholtz free energy, in which the LSFs are considered within the adiabatic approximation and the anharmonic lattice vibration effect is included using the Debye-Grüneisen model taking into account the interplay between thermal, magnetic, and elastic degrees of freedom. Thermal LSFs are energetically more favorable in the fcc phase than in the bcc one giving a sizable contribution to the linear thermal expansion of γ-Fe. The present scheme leads to accurate temperature-dependent equilibrium Wigner-Seitz radius, bulk modulus, and Debye temperature within the stability fields of the two phases and demonstrates the importance of thermal spin fluctuations in paramagnetic Fe.
Accounting for longitudinal spin fluctuations in the paramagnetic state, we calculate elastic constants and stacking fault energy as a function of temperature and chemical composition for Cr-Co-Ni alloys. The longitudinal spin fluctuations are demonstrated to be important for the quantitative description of the thermo-mechanical properties and the corresponding chemical and temperature dependences. Replacing Ni with Cr and Co is found to yield opposite influence on the mechanical properties at finite temperature. A high thermal stability in plasticity is predicted in the low Cr regime in Cr-Co-Ni alloys, while a good thermal stability in elasticity can be achieved in the high Cr and low Co regime. The present advance in thermo-chemical-magnetic-property enhances the understanding required for an intelligent design of multicomponent alloys toward high-technology applications. Published under an exclusive license by AIP Publishing.
The influence of temperature reversion in secondary cooling and its reversion rate on hot ductility and flow stress-strain curve of C-Mn steel has been investigated. Tensile specimens were cooled at various regimes. One cooling regime involved cooling at a constant rate of 100 degrees C min(-1) to the test temperature, while the others involved temperature reversion processes at three different reversion rates before deformation. After hot tensile test, the evolution of mechanical properties of steel was analyzed at various scales by means of microstructure observation, ab initio prediction, and thermodynamic calculation. Results indicated that the temperature reversion in secondary cooling led to hot ductility trough occurring at higher temperature with greater depth. With increasing temperature reversion rate, the low temperature end of ductility trough extended toward lower temperature, leading to wider hot ductility trough with slightly reducing depth. Microstructure examinations indicated that the intergranular fracture related to the thin film-like ferrite and (Fe, Mn)S particles did not changed with varying cooling regimes; however, the Widmanstatten ferrite surrounding austenite grains resulted from the temperature reversion process seriously deteriorated the ductility. In addition, after the temperature reversion in secondary cooling, the peak stress on the flow curve slightly declined and the peak of strain to peak stress occurred at higher temperature. With increasing temperature reversion rate, the strain to peak stress slightly increased, while the peak stress showed little variation. The evolution of plastic modulus and strain to peak stress of austenite with varying temperature was in line with the theoretical prediction on Fe.