Temperature dependence of the stacking-fault Gibbs energy for Al, Cu, and Ni

Abstract

Stacking fault energy (SFE) has significant impact on the deformation and mechanical properties of materials. The temperature dependence of the SFE for most elements has remained experimentally inaccessible due to technical difficulties. Here, the authors perform highly accurate $a\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}b$ $i\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}n\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}i\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}t\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}i\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}o$ calculations to investigate the temperature dependence of the SFE for three prototypical elements (Al, Cu, and Ni) and compare the outcome with an extensive set of previous theoretical and experimental data. The results clearly reveal a strong and unexpected reduction of the SFE with temperature and clarify the contribution of the different excitation mechanisms.