Effects of atomic size on antiphase boundary energy in solid solutions

The energy of an antiphase boundary has been calculated by means of Pines's elastic spheres method, as modified by incorporating the dependence of atomic size on the neighbors in the first coordination sphere, which represents an advance in the theory of ordered solid solutions. There is a reduction in the elastic strain energy when a nonequilibrium antiphase boundary is formed in CuZn, and if this is incorporated one obtains realistic values for the energies of such boundaries; in AuCu₃ the elastic strain energy increases the energy of an antiphase boundary of octahedral type. The change in the elastic strain energy in a nonequilibrium antiphase boundary constitutes a considerable part of the total energy change given by the quasichemical theory, and it introduces substantial corrections into the antiphase-boundary energy for CuZn and AuCu₃.