A thermodynamic model for surface reconstruction based on the effects of surface stress was presented. The energetics associated with the relaxation of a surface layer that was allowed to elastically strain and lose coherence with the bulk were analyzed. A simple criterion for an instability leading to surface reconstruction was developed and compared with experimental observation of surface reconstruction behaviour displayed by fcc metals.

Thermodynamic Model for Surface Reconstruction Based on Surface Stress Effects. R.C.Cammarata: Surface Science, 1992, 273[1-2], L399-402