First-principles study on phase stability of MoSi2-NbSi2pseudobinary alloys

Koretaka Yuge, Yuichiro Koizumi, Koji Hagihara, Takayoshi Nakano, Kyosuke Kishida, Haruyuki Inui
2012 Physical Review B  
The phase stability of MoSi 2 -NbSi 2 pseudobinary alloys was examined by Monte Carlo simulation and the cluster expansion technique based on first-principles calculations. We found that formation energies of all possible atomic arrangements exhibited a positive sign, indicating that no stable intermediate phase exists between MoSi 2 with C11 b and NbSi 2 with C40 structures. The C40 phase has significantly greater solubility as well as higher temperature dependence of solubility than C11 b ,
more » ... ich agrees with previous experimental reports. Lattice vibration is found to significantly affect the solubility of both C11 b and C40 phases, where its impact naturally increases at higher temperatures. From the analysis of Warren-Cowley short-range-order parameters, the C11 b single phase can be interpreted as a nearly disordered state, while the C40 phase exhibits explicit deviation from the disordered state: C40 prefers Mo-Mo and Nb-Nb like-atom pairs for first-nearest-neighbor coordination, especially around equiatomic composition.
doi:10.1103/physrevb.85.134106 fatcat:v6bkabozkraqfoxyqx5mn7g4d4