Phase Stability, Elastic Modulus and Elastic Anisotropy of X Doped (X = Zn, Zr and Ag) Al3Li: Insight from First-Principles Calculations

Abstract

In present work, the effects of alloying elements X (X = Zn, Zr and Ag) doping on the phase stability, elastic properties, anisotropy and Debye temperature of Al3Li were studied by the first-principles method. Results showed that pure and doped Al3Li can exist and be stable at 0 K. Zn and Ag elements preferentially occupy the Al sites and Zr elements tend to occupy the Li sites. All the Cij obey the mechanical stability criteria, indicating the mechanical stability of these compounds. The overall anisotropy decreases in the following order: Al23Li8Ag > Al3Li > Al23Li8Zn > Al24Li7Zr, which shows that the addition of Zn and Zr has a positive effect on reducing the anisotropy of Al3Li. The shear anisotropic factors for Zn and Zr doped Al3Li are very close to one, meaning that elastic moduli do not strongly depend on different shear planes. For pure and doped Al3Li phase, the transverse sound velocities νt1 and νt2 among the three directions are smaller than the longitudinal sound velocity νl. Moreover, only the addition of Zn is beneficial to increasing the ΘD of Al3Li among the three elements.