Universal Maximum Strength of Solid Metals and Alloys

Duane D. Johnson, Prashant Singh, A. V. Smirnov, and Nicolas Argibay

Phys. Rev. Lett. 130, 166101 – Published 19 April 2023

Abstract

Interstitial electron density $ρ_{o}$ is offered as a direct metric for maximum strength in metals, arising from universal properties derived from an electron gas. $ρ_{o}$ sets the exchange-correlation parameter $r_{s}$ in density-functional theory. It holds also for maximum shear strength $τ_{\max}$ in polycrystals [M. Chandross and N. Argibay, Phys. Rev. Lett. 124, 125501 (2020)]. Elastic moduli and $τ_{\max}$ for polycrystalline (amorphous) metals are linear with $ρ_{o}$ and melting $T_{m}$ (glass-transition $T_{g}$ ) temperature. $ρ_{o}$ or $r_{s}$ , even with rule-of-mixture estimate, predicts relative strength for rapid, reliable selection of high-strength alloys with ductility, as confirmed for elements to steels to complex solid solutions, and validated experimentally.

Received 2 September 2022
Revised 19 February 2023
Accepted 16 March 2023

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.130.166101

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Alloys Amorphous materials Crystalline systems Metals

Density functional theory Electronic structure Korringa-Kohn-Rostoker method Variational wave functional methods

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Authors & Affiliations

Duane D. Johnson ^1,2,*,†, Prashant Singh², A. V. Smirnov², and Nicolas Argibay ²

¹Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011, USA
²Ames Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011, USA