Anomalous thermal expansion in $α$-titanium

Souvatzis, P.; Eriksson, O.; Katsnelson, M. I.

Anomalous thermal expansion in $α$-titanium

Authors

Souvatzis, P.

Eriksson, O.

Katsnelson, M. I.

Description

We provide a complete quantitative explanation for the anisotropic thermal expansion of hcp Ti at low temperature. The observed negative thermal expansion along the c-axis is reproduced theoretically by means of a parameter free theory which involves both the electron and phonon contributions to the free energy. The thermal expansion of titanium is calculated and found to be negative along the c-axis for temperatures below $\sim$ 170 K, in good agreement with observations. We have identified a saddle-point Van Hove singularity near the Fermi level as the main reason for the anisotropic thermal expansion in $α-$titanium.
article, 4 pages, 3 figures