A Thermodynamic Constraint for the Electronic Structure of Fe-Ni Alloys at Room And High-Temperature

TL;DR

This paper introduces a thermodynamic approach to study the electronic structure of Fe-Ni alloys at various temperatures, overcoming limitations of traditional quantum measurements by using entropy and transport data.

Contribution

It proposes a novel method combining thermodynamic and transport measurements to analyze electronic structures in metal alloys, validated on Fe-Ni.

Findings

Electronic contribution to entropy can be inferred from thermodynamic data.

Transport measurements independently support the thermodynamic approach.

Reconciliation of methods confirms the validity of the thermodynamic constraint.

Abstract

The measurement of the electronic structure of metal alloys is hampered by the in-applicability of conventional quantum oscillation measurements owing to electron scattering by thermal or alloy disorder. Recent advancements in the study of the electronic contribution to the entropy suggest a path to ground transport properties in alloy equilibrium thermodynamics. Fe-Ni represents an interesting test-case because it exhibits an intricate electronic structure, order-disorder transformations, and a large solid-solution region where equilibrium data can be obtained. Using cluster modeling, the electronic contribution to the entropy can be inferred from high-temperature thermodynamic data. Electronic transport property measurements can be used to independently evaluate the electronic contribution to the entropy. Reconciling these two approaches at high temperature supports this method to study electronic structure for metal alloys.