Thermodynamic theory of simple liquid metals and alloys

Abstract

The ab initio theory of the thermodynamic properties of simple s–p bonded liquid metals and alloys is reviewed. The first part deals with pure metals, where the ideas of pseudopotential theory (governing the electronic motion) and thermodynamic perturbation theory (governing the atomic motion) are combined. The result is a credible description, which is mostly semiquantitative. The second part deals with alloys for which a similar formal approach is possible; a variety of alloy properties are thus explainable. The extent, however, to which the conventional formulation of pseudopotential theory can be straightforwardly applied to alloys has yet to be delineated.