Hafnium binary alloys from experiments and first principles

TL;DR

This study uses high-throughput first principles calculations to explore 44 hafnium binary alloys, discovering new compounds and challenging existing stability reports, thus advancing understanding of hafnium's alloy phase behavior.

Contribution

It provides the first comprehensive computational analysis of hafnium binary systems, predicting novel compounds and reassessing stability in previously studied systems.

Findings

Predicted new compounds in six binary systems.

Identified some reported compounds as potentially unstable.

Revealed that certain systems previously thought to be phase separating may form stable compounds.

Abstract

Despite the increasing importance of hafnium in numerous technological applications, experimental and computational data on its binary alloys is sparse. In particular, data is scant on those binary systems believed to be phase separating. We performed a comprehensive study of 44 hafnium binary systems with alkali metals, alkaline earths, transition metals and metals, using high-throughput first principles calculations. These computations predict novel unsuspected compounds in six binary systems previously believed to be phase separating They also predict a few unreported compounds in additional systems and indicate that some reported compounds may actually be unstable at low temperatures. We report the results for the following systems: AgHf, AlHf, AuHf, BaHf*, BeHf, BiHf, CaHf*, CdHf, CoHf, CrHf, CuHf, FeHf, GaHf, HfHg, HfIn, HfIr, HfK*, HfLa*, HfLi*, HfMg, HfMn, HfMo, HfNa*, HfNb*, HfNi, HfOs, HfPb, HfPd, HfPt, HfRe, HfRh, HfRu, HfSc, HfSn, HfSr*, HfTa*, HfTc, HfTi, HfTl, HfV*, HfW, HfY*, HfZn, and HfZr. (* = systems in which the ab initio method predicts that no compounds are stable).