Abnormal resistivity behavior of Cu–Ni and Cu–Co alloys in undercooled liquid state

The resistivity behavior of undercooled liquid Cu–Ni and Cu–Co alloys had been studied in the contactless method, to probe the structure transition in undercooled melts during the cooling process. Over the entire concentration range, linear behavior of resistivity with temperature was obtained in liquid and undercooled liquid Cu–Ni system. It implied that the formation of icosahedral order might not influence the electron scattering in undercooled liquid Cu–Ni alloys. Similar results were obtained in Cu–Co system in the vicinity of liquidus temperature. A turning point was obvious in temperature coefficient of resistivity for undercooled liquid Cu–Co alloys around the bimodal line, which was interpreted to be responsible for metastable liquid–liquid phase separation. During liquid phase separation process, resistivity decreased and the temperature coefficient of resistivity was larger than that of homogeneous melts. In combination with transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscope studies on the as-solidified microstructure, this was interpreted as the formation of egg-type structure and concentration change in Cu-rich and Co-rich phases. The mechanism controlling the separation and droplets motion was also discussed in undercooled liquid Cu–Co system.     

Mg–Al-Ca合金中二元Laves相的电子结构和力学性能

采用基于密度泛函理论的第一性原理方法,研究了Mg-Al-Ca合金中AB2型二元Laves相（如CaMg2, CaAl2 和MgAl2 ）在不同形态结构（C14, C15和C36）下的晶体结构、电子结构和力学性能。计算所得的晶格常数与实验数据吻合很好。形成能与相关能的计算表明C15- CaAl2 Laves相具有很好的合金化能力和结构稳定性。态密度和电荷密度的计算从微观上进一步分析了C15-CaAl2具有很好的合金化能力和稳定性的根源。弹性常数的计算和力学性能的分析表明C14-MgAl2具有很好的延展性,C15-MgAl2具有很好的塑性。     

Structural, elastic, phonon and electronic properties of a MnPd alloy

The structural, elastic, phonon and electronic properties of a MnPd alloy have been investigated using the first-principles calculation. The calculated lattice constants and electronic structure agree well with the experimental results. The microscopic mechanism of the diffusionless martensitic transition from the paramagnetic B2 (PM-B2) phase to the antiferromagnetic L10 (AFM-L10) phase through the intermediate paramagnetic L10 (PM-L10 ) phase has been explored theoretically. The obtained negative shear modulus C′= (C11-C12)/2 of the PM-B2 phase is closely related to the instability of the cubic B2 phase with respect to the tetragonal distortions. The calculated phonon dispersions for the PM-L10 and AFM-L10 phases indicate that they are dynamically stable. However, the AFM-L10 phase is energetically most favorable according to the calculated total energy order, so the PM-L10 →AFM-L10 transition is caused by the magnetism rather than the electron-phonon interaction. Additionally, the AFM-L10 state is stabilized through the formation of a pseudo gap located at the Fermi level. The calculated results show that the CuAu-I type structure in the collinear antiferromagnetic state is dynamically and mechanically stable, thus is the low temperature phase.     

The response of temperature and hydrostatic pressure of zinc-blende GaxIn1-xAs semiconducting alloys

<正>The electronic band structure of Ga_xIn_1-xAs alloy is calculated by using the local empirical pseudo-potential method including the effective disorder potential in the virtual crystal approximation.The compositional effect of the electronic energy band structure of this alloy is studied with composition x ranging from 0 to 1.Various physical quantities such as band gaps,bowing parameters,refractive indices,and high frequency dielectric constants of the considered alloys with different Ga concentrations are calculated.The effects of both temperature and hydrostatic pressure on the calculated quantities are studied.The obtained results are found to be in good agreement with the available experimental and published data.     

Exchange bias behavior in Ni50.0Mn35.5 In14.5 ribbons annealed at different temperatures

Heusler alloy Ni_50.0Mn_35.5In_14.5 ribbons were prepared by melt-spinning technique. Several short time annealings were carried out in order to enhance the exchange bias effect in this alloy ribbon. The magnetic transition temperature increases with the annealing, compared to the as-spun sample, however no significant differences in respective Curie temperatures were observed for austenite and martensite phases in such annealed samples. Exchange bias effect is observed at low temperatures for all samples and practically vanishes at 60 K for the as-spun sample, whereas for the annealed ribbons it vanishes at 100 K.     

Magnetocaloric effect in high Ni content Ni52Mn48−xInx alloys under low field change

Ni-rich Heusler alloys Ni₅₂Mn_48−xIn_x (x=15.5, 16 and 16.5) were prepared by the arc melting method. X-ray diffraction analysis revealed that the martensite has orthorhombic structure (S.G. Pmm2) at room temperature. The only alloy with x=15.5 has structural transmission from martensite to austenite without any magnetic transmission. The temperature dependence and the field dependence of the magnetization measurement indicated that the magnetization increased with the decreasing of the concerntration of Mn. The lesser the Mn atoms located in the In atom sites, the weaker the total AFM interaction in the system. Giant entropy changes ΔS_M(T, H) were found in Ni₅₂Mn_48−xIn_x alloys with the maximum ΔS_M value of 22.3 J kg K for the sample with x=16.5 at 270 K under the magnetic field change of 1.5 T.     

Photoluminescence and structural properties of GaInNAs/GaAs quantum wells grown by molecular beam epitaxy under different arsenic pressures

GaInNAs/GaAs quantum wells grown by molecular beam epitaxy under different arsenic pressures have been studied using photoluminescence (PL), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and secondary-ion mass spectrometry (SIMS). The best optical properties are achieved with the V/III beam equivalent pressure ratio (V/III_BEP) of 10. The PL emission wavelength remains unchanged for 8V/III_BEP12, suggesting that within this range neither the alloy composition nor the nitrogen sticking coefficient is changed. For the lower and higher V/III_BEP ratios the PL wavelength is red-shifted or blue-shifted, respectively. The XRD results indicate that the nitrogen incorporation into the group-V sub-lattice is enhanced at low As pressures and reduced at high As pressures. The PL behaviour can thus be understood as a competition between As and N adatoms in occupying anion lattice sites.     

Grain size refinement and magnetostriction of ferromagnetic shape memory Fe–Pd–Rh alloys

This paper reports the forging of bulk ferromagnetic shape memory (FSM) Fe–30Pd–2Rh (at%) alloys to a 40% reduction in thickness, followed by thermal annealing at 950–1100 °C for various times and quenching in ice brine to induce recrystallization (i.e. grain size refinement). Investigation with the Vickers microhardness test reveals that the process of recrystallization results in increased ductility of the fine grains. TEM and magnetostriction investigations reveal two kinds of twins contained in the strain-forged sample annealed at 950 °C for 3 h, i.e. deformation and transformation twins, and these twins also improved a higher magnetostriction as well as ductility in the alloys that may be useful in magneto-mechanical applications (such as microactuator or spring).     

Electron Dispersion in Liquid Alkali and Their Alloys

Ashcroft＇s local empty core （EMC） model pseudopotential in the second-order perturbation theory is used to study the electron dispersion relation, the Fermi energy, and deviation in the Fermi energy from free electron value for the liquid alkali metals and their equiatomic binary alloys for the first time. In the present computation, the use of pseudo-alloy-atom model （PAA） is proposed and found successful. The influence of the six different forms of the local field correction functions proposed by Hartree （H）, Vashishta Singwi （VS）, Taylor （T）, lehimaru-Utsumi （IU）, Farid et al. （F）, and Sarkar et al. （S） on the aforesaid electronic properties is examined explicitly, which reflects the varying effects of screening. The depth of the negative hump in the electron dispersion of liquid alkalis decreases in the order Li --→ K, except for Rb and Cs, it increases. The results of alloys are in predictive nature.