Predicting ductility in quaternary B 2 -like alloys

Although intermetallics with a $B2$-type crystal structure are typically brittle, a class of $B2$ intermetallics that demonstrates unusually high ductility has been reported. A set of recently developed $B2$-like quaternary precious metal-rare earth alloys also includes compositions with significant ductility. To predict ductility in these systems, we have adapted a computational energy-based metric based on slip systems and relative stability of planar defects, developed to predict ductility in $B2$ binary systems, for use with quaternary $B2$-like alloys. The computational metric successfully predicts the experimentally-determined ductility or brittleness of 15 $B2$-like quaternary precious metal-rare earth and refractory alloys.