| Popis: |
Transition-metal (TM) carbides are an important class of hard, protective coating materials; however, their brittleness often limits potential applications. We use density functional theory to investigate the possibility of improving ductility by forming pseudobinary cubic (MMC)-M-1-C-2 alloys, for which M-1 = Ti or V and M-2 = W or Mo. The alloying elements are chosen based on previous results showing improved ductility of the corresponding pseudobinary nitride alloys with respect to their parent compounds. While commonly-used empirical criteria do not indicate enhanced ductility in the carbide alloys, calculated stress/strain curves along known slip systems, supported by electronic structure analyses, indicate ductile behavior for VMoC. As VMoC layers are sheared along the 1 (1) over bar0 direction on {111} planes, the stress initially increases linearly up to a yield point where the accumulated stress is partially dissipated. With further increase in strain, the stress increases again until fracture occurs. A similar mechanical behavior is observed for the corresponding TM nitride VMoN, known to be a ductile ceramic material [1]. Thus, our results show that VMoC is a TM carbide alloy which may be both hard and ductile, i.e. tough. (C) 2017 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Funding Agencies|Swedish Research Council (VR) Linkoping Linnaeus Initiative LiLi-NFM [2008-6572]; Swedish Government Strategic Research Area Grant in Materials Science on Advanced Functional Materials (Grant SFO-Mat-LiU) [2009 00971]; Olle Engkvist Foundation |
