Substitutional alloy of Ce and Al.
The formation of substitutional alloys has been restricted to elements with similar atomic radii and electronegativity. Using high-pressure at 298 K, we synthesized a face-centered cubic disordered alloy of highly dissimilar elements (large Ce and small Al atoms) by compressing the Ce(3)Al intermetallic compound >15 GPa or the Ce(3)Al metallic glass >25 GPa. Synchrotron X-ray diffraction, Ce L(3)-edge absorption spectroscopy, and ab initio calculations revealed that the pressure-induced Kondo volume collapse and 4f electron delocalization of Ce reduced the differences between Ce and Al and brought them within the Hume-Rothery (HR) limit for substitutional alloying. The alloy remained after complete release of pressure, which was also accompanied by the transformation of Ce back to its ambient 4f electron localized state and reversal of the Kondo volume collapse, resulting in a non-HR alloy at ambient conditions.
Zeng
Qiao-Shi
QS
International Center for New-Structured Materials, and Laboratory of New-Structured Materials, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China.
Ding
Yang
Y
Mao
Wendy L
WL
Luo
Wei
W
Blomqvist
Andreas
A
Ahuja
Rajeev
R
Yang
Wenge
W
Shu
Jinfu
J
Sinogeikin
Stas V
SV
Meng
Yue
Y
Brewe
Dale L
DL
Jiang
Jian-Zhong
JZ
Mao
Ho-Kwang
HK