Warning! Note that elemental potentials taken from alloy descriptions may not work well for the pure species. This is particularly true if the elements were fit for compounds instead of being optimized separately. As with all interatomic potentials, please check to make sure that the performance is adequate for your problem.
Citation: M.S. Daw, J.W. Lawson, and C.W. Bauschlicher (2011), "Interatomic potentials for Zirconium Diboride and Hafnium Diboride", Computational Materials Science, 50(10), 2828-2835. DOI: 10.1016/j.commatsci.2011.04.038.
Abstract: We report on the first interatomic potentials for Zirconium Diboride and Hafnium Diboride. The potentials are of the Tersoff form, and are obtained by fitting to a first-principles database of basic properties of elemental Zr, Hf, B, and the compounds ZrB2 and HfB2. Two variants of the Zr-B potentials have been obtained, and one for Hf-B. The potentials have been tested against a variety of properties of the compound, with the conclusion that they are stable and provide a reasonable representation of the desired properties of the two diborides.
Citation: J.W. Lawson, M.S. Daw, and C.W. Bauschlicher (2011), "Lattice thermal conductivity of ultra high temperature ceramics ZrB2 and HfB2 from atomistic simulations", Journal of Applied Physics, 110(8), 083507. DOI: 10.1063/1.3647754.
Abstract: Atomistic Green-Kubo simulations are performed to evaluate the lattice thermal conductivity for single crystals of the ultra high temperature ceramics ZrB2 and HfB2. Recently developed interatomic potentials are used for these simulations. Heat current correlation functions show rapid oscillations, which can be identified with mixed metal-Boron optical phonon modes. Results for temperatures from 300K to 1000K are presented.