First-principles study on alloying stability, electronic structure, and mechanical properties of Al-based intermetallics

First-principles calculations were performed to study on alloying stability, electronic structure, and mechanical properties of Al-based intermetallic compounds (AlCu₃, AlCu₂Zr, and AlZr₃). The calculated results show that the lattice parameters obtained after full relaxation of crystalline cells are consistent with experimental data. The calculation of cohesive energies indicated that the structure stability of these Al-based intermetallics will become higher with increasing Zr element in crystal. The calculations of formation energies showed that AlCu₂Zr has the strongest alloying ability, followed by AlZr₃ and finally the AlCu₃. The further analysis find out that single-crystal elastic constants at zero-pressure satisfy the requirement of mechanical stability for cubic crystals. The calculations on the ratio of bulk modulus to shear modulus reveal that AlCu₂Zr can exhibit a good ductility, followed by AlCu₃, whereas AlZr₃ can have a poor ductility; however, for stiffness, these intermetallics show a converse order. The calculations on Poisson's ratio show that AlCu₃ is much more anisotropic than the other two intermetallics. In addition, calculations on densities of states indicate that the valence bonds of these intermetallics are attributed to the valence electrons of Cu 3d states for AlCu₃, Cu 3d, and Zr 4d states for AlCu₂Zr, and Al 3s, Zr 5s and 4d states for AlZr₃, respectively; in particular, the electronic structure of the AlZr₃ shows the strongest hybridization, leading to the worst ductility.