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High-pressure phase transitions of nitinol NiTi to a semiconductor with an unusual topological structure

Accepted version
Peer-reviewed

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Type

Article

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Authors

Liu, G 
Liu, H 
Feng, X 
Redfern, SAT 

Abstract

Systematic ab-initio structure simulations have been used to explore the high-pressure behavior of nitinol (NiTi) at zero temperature. Our crystal structure prediction and first principles calculations reveal that the known B19 phase is dynamically unstable, an orthorhombic structure (Pbcm) and a face centered cubic B32 structure (Fd-3m) become stable above ~4 and 29 GPa, respectively. The newly-predicted, highest-pressure, B32 phase is composed of two interpenetrating diamond structures, with structural topology that is quite distinct from that of the other phases of NiTi. Interestingly, the B32 phase shows unusual semiconducting characteristic as a result of its unique band structure and the nature of 3d orbitals localization, whose expected synthesis pressure is accessible to current experimental techniques.

Description

Keywords

nitinol, high pressure, first principles, phase transition, semiconductor

Journal Title

Physical Review B

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

2469-9950
2469-9969

Volume Title

97

Publisher

American Physical Society (APS)
Sponsorship
Natural Environment Research Council (NE/P012167/1)
The authors acknowledge funding supports from the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grants No. 11604314. Work at Carnegie was supported by Energy Frontier Research in Extreme Environments Center (EFree), an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences under Award No. DE-SC-0001057. S.A.T.R. acknowledges the support of the UK Natural Environment Research Council under grant NE/P012167/1.