Papers by Author: Mojmír Šob

Abstract: The local mechanical properties of Fe₇₈Al₂₂ alloy were studied using nanoindentation techniques. Sharp Berkovich indenter was used to perform load-controlled nanoindentation experiments on the studied sample. Hardness and elastic modulus maps were created on the basis of the indentation tests carried out in different grains. The focus of the work was to study the dependence of mechanical properties on the grain orientation. The results were in good agreement with quantum-mechanical calculations of anisotropic elastic properties of the studied alloy. It was explained that the maximum detected elastic modulus values are likely for grains with [111] crystallographic orientations which we theoretically identified as the hard ones.

Abstract: We suggest and investigate three possible displacive transformation paths between the ideal C11b, C40 and C54 structures in MoSi2, VSi2 and TiSi2 by calculating ab initio total energies along these paths. An estimate of transition temperatures based on the calculated energy barriers leads to values comparable with the melting temperatures of the disilicides studied. This confirms their high temperature stability and indicates that if a phase transformation between C11b, C40 and C54 structures of the disilicides takes place, then its prevailing mechanism should be diffusional rather than martensitic like. During the transformations studied, atoms come as close together as, for example, in configurations with interstitials. Hence, the present ab initio results can also help in fitting adjustable parameters of semi-empirical interatomic potentials for the transition-metal disilicides, in particular of the repulsion at short separations of atoms.

Abstract: Ab initio electronic structure theory has achieved considerable reliability concerning predictions of physical and chemical properties and phenomena. It provides understanding of matter at the atomic and electronic scale with an unprecedented level of details and accuracy. In the present contribution, the electronic structure theory and state-of-the-art ab initio calculation methods in solids are briefly reviewed and the application of the calculated total energy differences between various phases (lattice stabilities) is illustrated on construction of phase diagrams by the CALPHAD (CALculation of PHAse Diagrams) method in systems containing phases with complex structures, as e.g. Laves phases or sigma phase. Particular examples include description of the Laves phases in the Cr-Nb, Cr-Ta and Cr-Zr systems, sigma-phase in the Fe-Cr system and prediction of the phase composition of ternary Fe-Cr-Mo system and super-austenitic steels. It is shown that the utilization of ab initio results introduces a solid basis of the energetics of systems with complex phases, allows to avoid unreliable estimates and extrapolations of Gibbs energies and brings more physics into the CALPHAD method.

Abstract: The ideal tensile strength along the [111] direction in the Fe3Al and Ni3Al intermetallic compounds with the D03 structure has been calculated from the first principles using the fullpotential linearized augmented plane-wave method (FP LAPW) within the density functional theory (DFT). The strains corresponding to the maximum sustainable stresses in both materials were determined and compared. The behavior of atomic magnetic moments as a function of strain was analyzed. The tensile test simulations have been theoretically simulated employing both the local density approximation (LDA) and generalized gradient approximation (GGA) for the exchangecorrelation potential.

Abstract: The state of the art of ab-initio calculations of the theoretical strength (TS) of materials is summarized and a database of selected theoretical and experimental results presented. Differences between theoretical and experimental TS values are discussed by assessing the stability conditions.