Accurate prediction of the solid-state region of the Ni-Al phase diagram including configurational and vibrational entropy and magnetic effects

The solid-state region of the Ni-Al phase diagram is predicted from first-principles calculations and Monte Carlo simulations through the cluster expansion formalism. In addition to the formation enthalpy and to the configurational entropy, the vibrational entropy and the magnetic enthalpy are included to calculate the Gibbs free energy of each phase. The computed phase diagram is in excellent agreement with the experimentally accepted phase diagram and provides information about the phase boundary between AlNi3 and Ni below 300 K. These results demonstrate the potential of this methodology to determine accurately the phase diagram of alloys of technological interest. Finally, the contributions of vibrational entropy and magnetic effects to the overall stability and solubility of the different phases are analyzed independently.