Ab-initio aprroach to the electronic, structural, elastic, and finite-temperature thermodynamic properties of Ti2AX (A = Al or Ga and X = C or N)

In this work, the electronic, structural, elastic, and thermodynamic properties of Ti(2)AX MAX phases (A = Al or Ga, X = C or N) were investigated using density functional theory (DFT). It is shown that the calculations of the electronic, structural, and elastic properties of these structures, using local density approximation (LDA) and generalized gradient approximation (GGA) coupled with projected augmented-wave (PAW) pseudopotentials, agree well with experiments. A thermodynamic model, which considers the vibrational and electronic contributions to the total free energy of the system, was used to investigate the finite-temperature thermodynamic properties of Ti(2)AX. The vibrational contribution was calculated using the supercell method, whereas the electronic contribution resulted from one-dimensional integration of electronic density of states (DOSs). To verify the model, the specific heats of pure elements were calculated and compared to experimental data. The DFT-D2 technique was used to calculate the heat capacity of graphite, taking into account the van der Waals (vdW) effect. Good agreement between the calculations and experiments for the specific heats of graphite and other pure elements lends validity to the approach used. The calculated results for the specific heats of Ti2AlC and Ti2AlN match well with experimental data. These strengthen the results of specific heats of Ti2GaC and Ti2GaN as well as other calculated thermodynamic properties, including the energies of formation and thermal expansion coefficient. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3652768]