A theoretical investigation of mixing thermodynamics, age-hardening potential, and electronic structure of ternary M11–xM2xB2 alloys with AlB2 type structure

Transition metal diborides are ceramic materials with potential applications as hard protective thin films and electrical contact materials. We investigate the possibility to obtain age hardening through isostructural clustering, including spinodal decomposition, or ordering-induced precipitation in ternary diboride alloys. By means of first-principles mixing thermodynamics calculations, 45 ternary M(1)1-x M(2)xB2 alloys comprising M(i)B2 (M(i) = Mg, Al, Sc, Y, Ti, Zr, Hf, V, Nb, Ta) with AlB2 type structure are studied. In particular Al1-xTixB2 is found to be of interest for coherent isostructural decomposition with a strong driving force for phase separation, while having almost concentration independent a and c lattice parameters. The results are explained by revealing the nature of the electronic structure in these alloys, and in particular, the origin of the pseudogap at EF in TiB2, ZrB2, and HfB2.