Theses and Dissertations

Issuing Body

Mississippi State University

Advisor

Kim, Seong-Gon

Committee Member

Novotny, Mark A.

Committee Member

Clay, R. Torsten

Committee Member

Monts, David L.

Committee Member

Horstemeyer, Mark F.

Date of Degree

5-11-2013

Document Type

Dissertation - Open Access

Major

Applied Physics

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

College

James Worth Bagley College of Engineering

Department

Applied Physics Program

Abstract

Structure-property relationships of two crystal structures were investigated using computational methodologies in two different length scales:electronic and atomistic length scales. Electronic structure calculations were performed using density functional theory (DFT) with generalized gradient approximation (GGA), GGA+U (U is “on-site” electronelectron repulsion) and hybrid functional forms. Atomistic calculations were performed utilizing the semi-empirical interatomic formulation, Modified Embedded Atom Method (MEAM). Classical molecular dynamics simulations were performed on the atomistic length scale in order to investigate thermal properties. In the first study, structural, elastic and thermal properties of cementite (Fe3C) were investigated using a Modified Embedded Atom Method (MEAM) potential for iron-carbon (Fe-C) alloys. Previously developed Fe and C single element potentials were used to develop a Fe-C alloy MEAM potential, using a statistically-based optimization scheme to reproduce structural and elastic properties of cementite, the interstitial energies of C in bcc Fe as well as heat of formation of Fe-C alloys in L12 and B1 structures. The stability of cementite at high temperatures was investigated by molecular dynamics simulations. The nine single crystal elastic constants for cementite were obtained by computing total energies for strained cells. Polycrystalline elastic moduli for cementite were calculated from the single crystal elastic constants of cementite. The formation energies of (001), (010), and (100) surfaces of cementite were also calculated. The melting temperature and the variation of both the specific heat and volume with respect to temperature were investigated by performing a two-phase (solid/liquid) molecular dynamics simulation of cementite. The predictions of the potential are in good agreement with first-principles calculations and experiments. In the second study the site occupancy and magnetic properties of Zn-Sn substituted M-type Sr-hexaferrite (SrFe12-x(Zn0.5Sn0.5)xO19 with x = 1) were investigated using firstprinciples total-energy calculations. We find that in the ground-state configuration Zn-Sn ions preferentially occupy 4f1 and 4f2 sites unlike the model previously suggested by Ghasemi et al. where Zn-Sn ions occupy 2b and 4f2 sites. Our model predicts a rapid increase in saturation magnetic moment (Ms) as well as decrease in magnetic anisotropy compared to the pure M-type Sr-hexaferrite, which is consistent with experimental observations.

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11668/19286

Comments

interatomic potential development||dual phase simulation||magnetic recording media||M-type hexaferrites

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