The crystal structures, stability, mechanical properties and electronic structures of Nb-free and Nb-doped Ti-Al intermetallic compounds were investigated via first-principles calculations. Seven components and eleven crystal configurations were considered based on the phase diagram. The calculated results demonstrate that hP8-Ti3Al, tP4-TiAl, tP32-Ti3Al5, tI24-TiAl2, tI16-Ti5Al11, tI24-Ti2Al5, and tI32-TiAl3 are the most stable phases. Mechanical properties were estimated with the calculated elastic constants, as well as the bulk modulus, shear modulus, Young's modulus, Poisson's ratio and Pugh's ratio following the Voigt-Reuss-Hill scheme. As the Al content increases, the mechanical strength increases but the ductility decreases in the Ti-Al compounds. This results from the enhanced covalent bond formed by the continuously enhanced Al-sp hybrid orbitals and Ti-3d orbitals. Nb doping (~5 at.% in this study) keeps the thermodynamical and mechanical stability for the Ti-Al compounds, which exhibit slightly higher bulk modulus and better ductility. This is attributed to the fact that the Nb 4d orbitals locate near the Fermi level and interact with the Ti-3d and Al-3p orbitals, improving the metallic bonds based on the electronic structures.
Keywords: Ti-Al compounds; electronic structures; first-principles theory; mechanical properties.