Browsing by Author "Zhu, Li-Fang"

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Open Access
Efficient approach to compute melting properties fully from ab initio with application to Cu
(2017) Zhu, Li-Fang; Grabowski, Blazej; Neugebauer, Jörg
Applying thermodynamic integration within an ab initio-based free-energy approach is a state-of-the-art method to calculate melting points of materials. However, the high computational cost and the reliance on a good reference system for calculating the liquid free energy have so far hindered a general application. To overcome these challenges, we propose the two-optimized references thermodynamic integration using Langevin dynamics (TOR-TILD) method in this work by extending the two-stage upsampled thermodynamic integration using Langevin dynamics (TU-TILD) method, which has been originally developed to obtain anharmonic free energies of solids, to the calculation of liquid free energies. The core idea of TOR-TILD is to fit two empirical potentials to the energies from density functional theory based molecular dynamics runs for the solid and the liquid phase and to use these potentials as reference systems for thermodynamic integration. Because the empirical potentials closely reproduce the ab initio system in the relevant part of the phase space the convergence of the thermodynamic integration is very rapid. Therefore, the proposed approach improves significantly the computational efficiency while preserving the required accuracy. As a test case, we apply TOR-TILD to fcc Cu computing not only the melting point but various other melting properties, such as the entropy and enthalpy of fusion and the volume change upon melting. The generalized gradient approximation (GGA) with the Perdew-Burke-Ernzerhof (PBE) exchange-correlation functional and the local-density approximation (LDA) are used. Using both functionals gives a reliable ab initio confidence interval for the melting point, the enthalpy of fusion, and entropy of fusion.
Open Access
An insight into using DFT data for Calphad modeling of solid phases in the third generation of Calphad databases, a case study for Al
(2019) Bigdeli, Sedigheh; Zhu, Li-Fang; Glensk, Albert; Grabowski, Blazej; Lindahl, Bonnie; Hickel, Tilmann; Selleby, Malin
In developing the next generation of Calphad databases, new models are used in which each term contributing to the Gibbs energy has a physical meaning. To continue the development, finite temperature density-functional- theory (DFT) results are used in the present work to discuss and suggest the most applicable and physically based model for Calphad assessments of solid phases above the melting point (the breakpoint for modeling the solid phase in previous assessments). These results are applied to investigate the properties of a solid in the super- heated temperature region and to replace the melting temperature as the breakpoint with a more physically based temperature, i.e., where the superheated solid collapses into the liquid. The advantages and limitations of such an approach are presented in terms of a new assessment for unary aluminum.
Open Access
Performance of the standard exchange-correlation functionals in predicting melting properties fully from first principles: application to Al and magnetic Ni
(2020) Zhu, Li-Fang; Körmann, Fritz; Ruban, Andrei V.; Neugebauer, Jörg; Grabowski, Blazej
We apply the efficient two-optimized references thermodynamic integration using Langevin dynamics method [Phys. Rev. B 96, 224202 (2017)] to calculate highly accurate melting properties of Al and magnetic Ni from first principles. For Ni we carefully investigate the impact of magnetism on the liquid and solid free energies including longitudinal spin fluctuations and the reverse influence of atomic vibrations on magnetic properties. We show that magnetic fluctuations are effectively canceling out for both phases and are thus not altering the predicted melting temperature. For both elements, the generalized gradient approximation (GGA) and the local-density approximation (LDA) are used for the exchange-correlation functional revealing a reliable ab initio confidence interval capturing the respective experimental melting point, enthalpy of fusion, and entropy of fusion.