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Electronic, elastic, and fracture properties of trialuminide alloys: Al sub 3 Sc and Al sub 3 Ti

Journal Article · · Journal of Materials Research; (USA)
 [1]
  1. Metals and Ceramics Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831-6114 (USA)

The electronic mechanism behind the brittle fracture of trialumide alloys is investigated using the full-potential linearized augmented plane-wave (FLAPW) total-energy method within the local density functional approach. To this end, the bulk phase stability, the elastic constants, the anti-phase boundary (APB) energy, the superlattice intrinsic stacking fault (SISF) energy, and the cleavage energy on different crystallographic planes have been determined. A small energy difference (=0.10 eV/unit formula) is found between the DO{sub 22} and L1{sub 2} structures of Al{sub 3}Ti. In general, the trialuminide alloys have large elastic modulus, small Poisson's ratio, and small shear modulus to bulk modulus ratio. An extremely high APB energy (=670 mJ/m{sup 2}) on the (111) plane is found for Al{sub 3}Sc, indicating that the separation between 1/2 {l angle}110{r angle} partials of a {l angle}110{r angle}(111) superdislocation is small. Since the total superdislocation has to be nucleated essentially at the same time, a high critical stress factor for dislocation emission at the crack tip is suggested. The high APB energy on the (111) plane is attributed to the directional bonding of Sc({ital d}-electron)--Al( {ital p}-electron). The same type of directional bonds is also found for Al{sub 3}Ti. In addition, moderately high values of SISF energy (=265 mJ/m{sup 2}) on the (111) plane and APB energy (=450 mJ/m{sup 2}) on the (100) plane are found for Al{sub 3}Sc. The brittle fracture of trialuminide alloys is attributed to the higher stacking fault energies and a lower cleavage strength compared to those of a ductile alloy (e.g., Ni{sub 3}Al). While the (110) surface has the highest surface energy, the cleavage strength (=19 GPa) of Al{sub 3}Sc is found to be essentially independent of the crystallographic planes.

DOE Contract Number:
AC05-84OR21400
OSTI ID:
6716713
Journal Information:
Journal of Materials Research; (USA), Journal Name: Journal of Materials Research; (USA) Vol. 5:5; ISSN JMREE; ISSN 0884-2914
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English