First principle energies of binary and ternary phases of the Fe–Nb–Ni–Cr system

Abstract : We present first principles enthalpies of formation and lattice parameters of iron, nickel, chromium and niobium alloys. Some of these results have been partially used in a recent assessment of the Fe–Ni–Cr–Nb quaternary phase diagram. Emphasis has been put on the fcc (A1) and bcc (A2) unary structures, the X3Y-D022, -L12, -D03, -D0a, X2Y-C14(MgZn2), -C15(MgCu2) and -C36 (MgNi2) Laves and X7Y6-D85 (μ) binary phases, and the X8Y4Z18-D8b (σ) ternary phase. We employed the state of the art to compute their properties by means of the DFT (PBE functional and PAW pseudo potentials). A comparison with experimental and theoretical data is also provided.