Mechanical stability and thermodynamic properties of OsC from first-principles calculations

The elastic and thermodynamic characteristics of OsC crystal have been predicted through a method of density functional theory within the generalized gradient approximation (GGA). Compared with WC-type OsC, NaCl-type OsC is not only energy unfavorable but also mechanics unstable. The five independent elastic constants (C_ij), bulk modulus (B₀), the dependence of bulk modulus on temperature and pressure as well as the thermal expansion coefficient (α_V) at various temperatures for WC-type OsC are discussed. According to our calculations, WC-type OsC should be an ultra-incompressible material with high bulk modulus about 381 GPa. In addition, the bulk modulus will increase with increasing pressure while decrease with increasing temperature. The researches on the thermal expansion coefficient indicate that there will be a knee point during the process of thermal expansion coefficient variation versus increasing temperature. Our results may provide useful information for theoretical and experimental investigation of OsC.