First-Principles Investigations of the Structural, Anisotropic Mechanical, Thermodynamic and Electronic Properties of the AlNi2Ti Compound

Abstract

In this paper, the electronic, mechanical and thermodynamic properties of AlNi2Ti are studied by first-principles calculations in order to reveal the influence of AlNi2Ti as an interfacial phase on ZTA (zirconia toughened alumina)/Fe. The results show that AlNi2Ti has relatively high mechanical properties, which will benefit the impact or wear resistance of the ZTA/Fe composite. The values of bulk, shear and Young’s modulus are 164.2, 63.2 and 168.1 GPa respectively, and the hardness of AlNi2Ti (4.4 GPa) is comparable to common ferrous materials. The intrinsic ductile nature and strong metallic bonding character of AlNi2Ti are confirmed by B/G and Poisson’s ratio. AlNi2Ti shows isotropy bulk modulus and anisotropic elasticity in different crystallographic directions. At room temperature, the linear thermal expansion coefficient (LTEC) of AlNi2Ti estimated by quasi-harmonic approximation (QHA) based on Debye model is 10.6 × 10−6 K−1, close to LTECs of zirconia toughened alumina and iron. Therefore, the thermal matching of ZTA/Fe composite with AlNi2Ti interfacial phase can be improved. Other thermodynamic properties including Debye temperature, sound velocity, thermal conductivity and heat capacity, as well as electronic properties, are also calculated.