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The phase stability and elastic property of binary Ti- x TM (TM = V, Cr, Nb, Mo) and ternary Ti-15TM- y Al alloys are investigated systematically by using a first-principles method. The coherent potential approximation is employed to describe the random distribution of the alloying atoms in the alloys. We show that the transition metal (TM) elements V, Cr, Nb, Mo increase the elastic stability of the β phase but decreases that of the α phase. The polycrystalline bulk modulus of the α phase increases with the concentration of the TM alloying elements whereas the Young's modulus and shear modulus are weakened. For the β phase, all the polycrystalline elastic moduli hardens with the addition of the TM alloying elements. The influence of the simple metal (SM) element Al on the elastic properties is much weaker than the TM ones. The TM alloying elements increase the stability of the β relative to the α and ω phases. Al stabilizes significantly the β phase over the ω phase. Our calculations suggest that the d electron density dominates the elastic modulus but not the relative phase stability. The interaction between the TM and SM alloying elements in titanium alloys matters to the relative stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydride induced embrittlement is one of the main causes for the stress corrosion crack of titanium alloys. The formation process of the hydride at atomic level remains controversial as it is not accessible directly by experiments. In the present work, the formation of titanium hydride is investigated by using a first principles method. By calculating the formation energies of TiH m with various types of H occupation state in HCP and FCC Ti matrix, we show that there exists phase equilibrium between α-Ti-H solid solution and δ/ε hydrides with χ and γ hydrides appearing as metastable phases. The energy barrier for the HCP → FCC structure transformation for the formation of the hydrides decreases with increasing H:Ti ratio m. The structure transformation is accompanied with spontaneous shift of half amounts of the H atoms from the octahedral to the tetrahedral interstices. The energy barrier for the migration of the remaining half of the H atoms from the octahedral to the tetrahedral interstices reduces with increasing m and approaches to a constant value. The hydrostatic compressive stress acting on TiH m , resulted from the H-induced lattice dilation tendency and the constraint of the surrounding matrix, does not facilitate the HCP → FCC transformation and the migration of the H atoms. The present work sheds light on the hydride formation process at atomic level. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phase decomposition influences significantly the mechanical properties of high entropy alloys (HEAs). Prediction of the phase decomposition of HEA is greatly hindered by the hyper-dimensional composition space of the alloys. In the present work, we propose to represent the HEAs as various pseudo-binary alloys of which the temperature dependent free energies as functions of compositions may be readily calculated by using first-principles methods in combination with thermodynamic models. With the calculated free energies, the phase diagrams of the pseudo-binary alloys may be constructed and the phase decomposition can be predicted. This procedure is applied to Hf-Nb-Ta-Ti-Zr alloy with body-centered cubic (BCC) structure. We predict that the equiatomic HfNbTaTiZr HEA suffers from phase decomposition below critical temperature of 1298 K. The HEA decomposes most favorably to BCC NbTa-rich and HfZr-rich phases. The BCC HfZr-rich phase transfers to a hexagonal close-packed structure (HCP) phase at low temperature. The predicted compositions of the decomposed phases are in good agreement with experiment and Thermal-Calc modeling. Furthermore, the effect of the phase decomposition on the strength of the HEA is evaluated by considering the solid-solution and precipitation strengthening mechanisms. The precipitation strengthening effect is stronger than the solid-solution strengthening at the low annealing temperature but becomes weaker at high annealing temperature. [Display omitted]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]