Electronic properties of Cu-Zn-Al alloys

The stability of Cu-Zn-Al was studied by total-energy calculations using th e KKR-CPA method. Mixing and elastic and chemical energies, solubility line s, and Fermi surfaces were computed for the fee and bcc structure. We find that the martensitic transformation can be considered as a transition from a disordered bcc to a disordered fee structure. Fermi-surface nesting leads to DO23 ordering while the van Hove singularities contribute to the instab ility of the fee structure. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reser ved.