Insight into structural, mechanical, electronic and thermodynamic properties of intermetallic phases in Zr–Sn system from first-principles calculations

The structural, phase stabilities, mechanical, electronic and thermodynamic properties of intermetallic phases in Zr–Sn system are investigated by using first-principles method. The equilibrium lattice constants, enthalpy of formation (ΔHform) and elastic constants are obtained and compared with available experimental and theoretical data. The configuration of Zr4Sn is measured with reasonable precision. The ΔHform of five hypothetical structures are obtained in order to find possible metastable phase for Zr–Sn system. The mechanical properties, including bulk modulus, shear modulus, Young's modulus and Poisson's ratio, are calculated by Voigt–Reuss–Hill approximation and the Zr5Sn4 and Zr5Sn3 show excellent mechanical properties. The electronic density of states for Zr5Sn4, Zr5Sn3 and cP8-Zr3Sn are calculated to further investigate the stability of intermetallic compounds. Through the quasi-harmonic Debye model, the Debye temperature, heat capacity and thermal expansion coefficient under temperature of 0–300K and pressure of 0–50GPa for Zr5Sn3 and Zr5Sn4 are deeply investigated.