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The severe local lattice distortion, induced mainly by the large atomic size mismatch of the alloy components, is one of the four core effects responsible for the unprecedented mechanical behaviors of high-entropy alloys (HEAs). In this work, we propose a supercell model, in which every lattice site has similar local atomic environment, to describe the random distributions of the atomic species in HEAs. Using these supercells in combination with ab initio calculations, we investigate the local lattice distortion of refractory HEAs with body-centered-cubic structure and 3d HEAs with face-centered-cubic structure. Our results demonstrate that the local lattice distortion of the refractory HEAs is much more significant than that of the 3d HEAs. We show that the atomic size mismatch evaluated with the empirical atomic radii is not accurate enough to describe the local lattice distortion. Both the lattice distortion energy and the mixing entropy contribute significantly to the thermodynamic stability of HEAs. However the local lattice distortion has negligible effect on the equilibrium lattice parameter and bulk modulus.

The lattice constant, formation enthalpy, and elastic parameters of Cu1-xAux (0 <= x <= 1) alloys in the face centered cubic crystallographic phase are investigated by using the first-principles exact muffin-tin orbitals and plane-wave pseudopotential methods in order to explore the effect of alloying with special focus on the impact of local lattice distortion (LLD) on the above properties. The compositional disorder is treated within the framework of the coherent potential approximation (CPA) and the special quasi-random structure (SQS) scheme. Calculations based on SQS and CPA show that, while LLD lowers significantly the formation enthalpy of Cu1-xAux due to the large size mismatch between Cu and Au atoms, it has negligible influence on the lattice constants and elastic parameters. These findings confirm the reliability of CPA for computing the enthalpy changes upon isotropic and unisotropic lattice distortions in disordered alloys with sizable atomic size differences., QC 20170127

We investigate the generalized stacking fault energy ( [GRAPHICS] -surface) of paramagnetic [GRAPHICS] -Fe as a function of temperature. At static condition, the face-centred cubic (fcc) lattice is thermodynamically unstable with respect to the hexagonal close-packed lattice, resulting in a negative intrinsic stacking fault energy (ISF). However, the unstable stacking fault energy (USF), representing the energy barrier along the [GRAPHICS] -surface connecting the ideal fcc and the intrinsic stacking fault positions, is large and positive. The ISF is calculated to have a strong positive temperature coefficient, while the USF decreases monotonously with temperature. According to the recent plasticity theory, the overall effect of temperature is to move paramagnetic fcc Fe from the stacking fault formation regime ( [GRAPHICS] K) towards maximum twinning ( [GRAPHICS] K) and finally to a dominating full-slip regime ( [GRAPHICS] K). Our predictions are discussed in connection with the available experimental observations., QC 20160414

The phase stability and elastic property of binary Ti-chi TM (TM=V, Cr, Nb, Mo) and ternary Ti-15TH-yAl 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 beta phase but decreases that of the a phase. The polycrystalline bulk modulus of the a phase increases with the concentration of the TM alloying elements whereas the Young's modulus and shear modulus are weakened. For the beta 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 beta relative to the alpha and omega phases. Al stabilizes significantly the beta phase over the omega 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., QC 20161129

By using first principles in combination with atomistic spin dynamics calculational methods, we determine the temperature-dependent free energies of the L2(1)-and L1(0)-Ni-2(Mn1-xFex) Ga (0 <= x <= 1), including phonon vibrational and magnetic energies. The x-dependent martensitic phase transformation (MPT) temperature (T-M) and the Curie temperature (T-C) are well represented. It is found that, the abnormal nonmonotonic behavior of T-M similar to x mainly originates from the phonon vibrational free energy. The magnetic energy, which does not change the trend of T-M against x but decreases the driving force of the MPT, is indispensable as well to get reasonable T-M values. This insight provides a good understanding of the physical mechanisms driving the MPT of Ni-2(Mn1-xFex)Ga, and promotes the improvement of their magnetic shape memory properties.