kth.sePublications KTH
Change search
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf
Critical importance of k-point convergence in supercell calculations of mechanical instabilities: Implications for shape-memory alloys
Theoretical Physics Division, Department of Physics, Chemistry, and Biology (IFM), Linköpings Universitet, Linköping, SE-581 83, Sweden; Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, Uppsala, SE-75120, Sweden.
Department of Theoretical Physics & Quantum Technologies, National University of Science and Technology “MISIS”, Leninskii Pr 4, Moscow, 119049, Russia.
KTH, School of Engineering Sciences (SCI), Physics, Condensed Matter Theory. Frontiers Science Center for Critical Earth Material Cycling, School of Earth Sciences and Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210023, China; HSE University, 123458 Moscow, Russia; Department of Physics, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, 33620, USA.ORCID iD: 0000-0001-7531-3210
KTH, School of Engineering Sciences (SCI), Physics, Condensed Matter Theory.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-3933-9066
2026 (English)In: Computational Condensed Matter, E-ISSN 2352-2143, Vol. 46, article id e01254Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

First-principles calculations of solids close to mechanical instabilities, for example, in studies of martensitic transformations in shape-memory alloys, require careful convergence with respect to both supercell size and k-point sampling density. Naturally, any such simulation should employ well-converged parameters that allow one to capture the quantitatively correct energetics of the most important instability waves. We demonstrate that large supercells used in Ab Initio Molecular Dynamics (AIMD) with common but insufficient k-point sampling can also produce qualitatively incorrect predictions of mechanical stability. A simple but useful rule is suggested: the most important destabilizing wave is identified, the smallest preferably uniformly spaced supercell allowing for such a wave is taken, for which k-points are converged; then a general scaling relation for maintaining equivalent k-point density across different supercell sizes stating that the number of k-points should scale with the inverse cube root of the number of primitive cells in the supercell is used. We validate this approach considering high-temperature shape-memory alloy NbRu, in which accurate prediction of a mechanical instability is crucial for modeling the martensitic transition. Using the most important 〈110〉[11̄0] destabilizing wave in B2-structured NbRu we show that a typical in AIMD studies Γ-point sampling alone for a 128-atom or even a 432-atom supercell cannot correctly predict stability against the wave that drives the martensitic transition, whereas the parameters for convergence can be easily estimated, and the properly converged calculations exhibit the correct behavior. These findings have direct implications for computational materials design involving large-scale, time-conserving simulations, particularly for systems in which mechanical instabilities govern functional properties.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Elsevier BV , 2026. Vol. 46, article id e01254
Keywords [en]
k-point convergence, Mechanical instability, NbRu, Shape-memory alloys, Supercells
National Category
Physical Sciences
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-378008DOI: 10.1016/j.cocom.2026.e01254Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-105030836547OAI: oai:DiVA.org:kth-378008DiVA, id: diva2:2045671
Note

QC 20260313

Available from: 2026-03-13 Created: 2026-03-13 Last updated: 2026-03-13Bibliographically approved

Open Access in DiVA

No full text in DiVA

Other links

Publisher's full textScopus

Authority records

Belonoshko, A. B.Vekilova, O. Yu.

Search in DiVA

By author/editor
Belonoshko, A. B.Vekilova, O. Yu.
By organisation
Condensed Matter Theory
Physical Sciences

Search outside of DiVA

GoogleGoogle Scholar

doi
urn-nbn

Altmetric score

doi
urn-nbn
Total: 15 hits
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf