Magnetic Cluster Expansion model for random and ordered magnetic face-centered cubic Fe-Ni-Cr alloys

TL;DR

This paper develops a Magnetic Cluster Expansion model for Fe-Ni-Cr alloys, enabling detailed simulations of magnetic properties across compositions, revealing how Cr influences Curie temperature and magnetic structures in ordered and random alloys.

Contribution

The paper introduces a novel MCE model for ternary Fe-Ni-Cr alloys based on DFT data, allowing comprehensive magnetic structure simulations across alloy compositions.

Findings

Cr substitution increases Curie temperature in Fe-rich alloys.

Removing magnetic collinearity reduces total magnetic moment but not low-temperature ferromagnetic range.

Strong antiferromagnetic Fe-Cr coupling explains Curie temperature increase.

Abstract

A Magnetic Cluster Expansion (MCE) model for ternary face-centered cubic Fe-Ni-Cr alloys has been developed using DFT data spanning binary and ternary alloy configurations. Using this MCE model Hamiltonian, we perform Monte Carlo simulations and explore magnetic structures of alloys over the entire range of alloy compositions, considering both random and ordered alloy structures. In random alloys, the removal of magnetic collinearity constraint reduces the total magnetic moment but does not affect the predicted range of compositions where the alloys adopt low temperature ferromagnetic configurations. During alloying of ordered fcc Fe-Ni compounds with Cr, chromium atoms tend to replace nickel rather than iron atoms. Replacement of Ni by Cr in alloys with high iron content increases the Curie temperature of the alloys. This can be explained by strong antiferromagnetic Fe-Cr coupling, similar to that found in bcc Fe-Cr solutions, where the Curie temperature increase, predicted by simulations as a function of Cr concentration, is confirmed by experimental observations.