title: Substitutional alloy of Ce and Al.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: International Center for New-Structured Materials, and Laboratory of New-Structured Materials, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China.
authors.forename: Qiao-Shi
authors.initials: QS
authors.lastname: Zeng
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.forename: Wendy L
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Mao
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Blomqvist
authors.forename: Rajeev
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ahuja
authors.forename: Wenge
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Jinfu
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Shu
authors.forename: Stas V
authors.initials: SV
authors.lastname: Sinogeikin
authors.forename: Yue
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Meng
authors.forename: Dale L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Brewe
authors.forename: Jian-Zhong
authors.initials: JZ
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Ho-Kwang
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Mao