Theoretical study of the Mo–Ru sigma phase

The thermodynamic properties of the Mo–Ru binary σ-phase are investigated using a combination of ab initio calculations and CALPHAD modeling. Total energy calculations have been performed for the complete set of 32 end-member compounds of a 5-sublattice compound energy model. The internal crystallographic parameters for each end-member compound have been determined by minimising the total energy. A simpler, 3-sublattice model of the Mo–Ru σ-phase is formulated on the basis of calculated total energies. The site occupancy is acquired by minimising the free energy given by the compound energy model. A strong preference of Mo and Ru towards high-coordination sites and icosahedral sites in the Mo–Ru σ-phase is found and analysed in terms of the electronic structure.