Atomic packing and size effect on the Hume-Rothery rule. (June 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Wang, Zhijun; Huang, Yunhao; Liu, C.T.; Li, Junjie; Wang, Jincheng
• Is Part Of: Intermetallics. Volume 109(2019:Jun.)
• Page Start: 139
• Page End: 144
• Publication Date: 2019-06
• Subjects: Atomic packing -- Hume-Rothery rules -- Atomic size effect -- Crystallization; Intermetallic compounds -- Metallography -- Periodicals; Metallic glasses -- Periodicals; Composés intermétalliques -- Métallographie -- Périodiques; 669.94
• DOI: 10.1016/j.intermet.2019.04.001
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0966-9795

Abstract

Abstract: Atomic packing problems have been widely investigated by physicists, mathematicians, material scientists as a long-standing scientific issue. While it is widely known that the monodisperse particles are closely packed into the face-centered cubic structure, the increase of polydispersity will suppress the crystallization. It is still unsolved when and how the crystalline packing collapses as the particle-size difference increases over a critical value. On the other hand, the atomic-size factor of the solution has gone deeply into the concept of applied physicists and physical metallurgy scientists since the proposal of Hume-Rothery rules in 1934. Although great efforts have been devoted to understanding this simple but important empirical rule of the atomic size effect, it remains a question without a complete answer even in binary alloy systems. Here, the two outstanding issues were solved in a rigorous geometric packing instability model even in the multicomponent system. The physical scenario presented here are helpful for understanding the close packing instability and the atomic-size effect in the Hume-Rothery rules. Highlights: A geometrical model of packing instability was proposed. The 15% atomic size difference rule in solid solution was proved. The instability criterion of size effects in multicomponent case was presented. The analyses is applicable to metallic alloys, granular materials and colloidal system.