On Coherency-Induced Ordering in Substitutional Alloys: I. Analytical

Abstract

As pointed out by Linus Pauling in his classic work on the relationship between crystal packing and ionic radius ratio, a difference in atomic size can be accommodated more readily by an ordered structure than by a disordered one. Because of mathematical complexity, however, very few works have been reported for substitutional alloys. In this work, coherency-induced ordering in substitutional alloys is examined through a simple model based on a two-dimensional square lattice. Within the assumption of nearest neighbor interactions on a square lattice, both modified Bragg-Williams and Onsager approaches show that coherency strain arising due to atomic mismatch can exert profound effects on order-disorder transitions in substitutional alloys. If the alloy system is elastically homogeneous and Vegard's law is obeyed, the order-disorder transition is of a second-order kinetics. If the atomic mismatches significantly deviate from Vegard's law, however, the transition may become a first-order kinetics, as the configurational free energy surface is composed of double wells. At the transition of a first-order kinetics, the lattice parameter can either increase or decrease upon heating, i.e., the lattice parameter of an ordered state can be less or greater than that of a disordered state. The results of Onsager's approach are independently confirmed with those of the Discrete Atom Method, a Monte Carlo technique predicated upon the combination of statistical mechanics and linear elasticity.