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: H. Sharifi, and C.D. Wick (2025), "Developing interatomic potentials for complex concentrated alloys of Cu, Ti, Ni, Cr, Co, Al, Fe, and Mn", Computational Materials Science, 248, 113595. DOI: 10.1016/j.commatsci.2024.113595.
Abstract: Complex concentrated alloys (CCAs) are a new generation of metallic alloys composed of three or more principal elements with physical and mechanical properties that can be tuned by adjusting their compositions. The extensive compositional workspace of CCAs makes it impractical to perform a comprehensive search for a specific material property using experimental measurements. The use of computational methods can rapidly narrow down the search span, improving the efficiency of the design process. We carried out a high-throughput parameterization of modified embedded atom method (MEAM) interatomic potentials for combinations of Cu, Ti, Ni, Cr, Co, Al, Fe, and Mn using a genetic algorithm. Unary systems were parameterized based on DFT calculations and experimental results. MEAM potentials for 28 binary and 56 ternary combinations of the elements were parameterized to DFT results that were carried out with semi-automated frameworks. Specific attention was made to reproduce properties that impact compositional segregation, material strength, and mechanics.
Notes: This is a binary listing for the 2025--Sharifi-H-Wick-C-D--Fe-Mn-Ni-Ti-Cu-Cr-Co-Al potential. This potential focuses on the structural analysis of alloys including shear strength and elastic constants, dislocation dynamics and their impact on alloy strength, and the analysis of defect effects, such as voids, on material properties. However, the potential was not optimized for temperature-dependent properties and was not fit to density, thermal expansion coefficients, or thermal conductivity data.
Citation: S.M. Eich, D. Beinke, and G. Schmitz (2015), "Embedded-atom potential for an accurate thermodynamic description of the iron-chromium system", Computational Materials Science, 104, 185-192. DOI: 10.1016/j.commatsci.2015.03.047.
Abstract: A new potential for the iron–chromium (Fe–Cr) alloy system was optimized for the embedded-atom method (EAM) within the two-band model (TBM) extension. In contrast to previous works, free model parameters are predominantly adapted to available experimental high-temperature data of the mixing enthalpy. As a major improvement, the metastable α/α' miscibility gap is accurately described in agreement with experimental data and a recent CALPHAD parametrization. The potential was also fitted to obtain an enriched solubility for chromium atoms in an iron matrix at 0 K, as it is predicted by several ab initio calculations. Furthermore, it was benchmarked against phonon excess entropies at 300 K and 1600 K demonstrating good agreement with respective results of inelastic neutron scattering.
EAM tabulated functions (2015--Eich-S-M--Fe-Cr--table--ipr1)
Notes: These files were sent by S.M. Eich (University of Stuttgart) on 20 Aug. 2015 and posted with his permission. Dr. Eich noted, "That the provided tables are directly obtained by the fitting process for the Fe-Cr interaction without subsequent transformation into the effective pair format. This was done in the publication for comparison, but the additional rescaling of the electron density for pure components wouldn't describe the energetics of alloys correctly unless the rescaling has been performed before starting the fitting routine (which then would affect the fitting process)." Dr. Eich noted that the distance units are Angstroms and the energy units are eV. File(s): superseded
EAM tabulated functions (2015--Eich-S-M--Fe-Cr--table--ipr2)
Notes: These files were provided by Sebastian Eich (Universität Stuttgart) on March 9, 2021 and posted with his permission. The new tables contain more grid points and includes values below 0.5 Angstroms. File(s):
See Computed Properties Notes: These files were provided by Sebastian Eich (Universität Stuttgart) on March 9, 2021 and posted with his permission. File(s):
Citation: G. Bonny, R.C. Pasianot, D. Terentyev, and L. Malerba (2011), "Iron chromium potential to model high-chromium ferritic alloys", Philosophical Magazine, 91(12), 1724-1746. DOI: 10.1080/14786435.2010.545780.
Abstract: We present an Fe–Cr interatomic potential to model high-Cr ferritic alloys. The potential is fitted to thermodynamic and point-defect properties obtained from density functional theory (DFT) calculations and experiments. The developed potential is also benchmarked against other potentials available in literature. It shows particularly good agreement with the DFT obtained mixing enthalpy of the random alloy, the formation energy of intermetallics and experimental excess vibrational entropy and phase diagram. In addition, DFT calculated point-defect properties, both interstitial and substitutional, are well reproduced, as is the screw dislocation core structure. As a first validation of the potential, we study the precipitation hardening of Fe–Cr alloys via static simulations of the interaction between Cr precipitates and screw dislocations. It is concluded that the description of the dislocation core modification near a precipitate might have a significant influence on the interaction mechanisms observed in dynamic simulations.
EAM tabulated functions (2011--Bonny-G--Fe-Cr--table--ipr1)
Notes: These files were sent by Dr. Giovanni Bonny (Nuclear Materials Science Institute of SCK-CEN, Belgium) on 2 November 2017 and posted with his permission. File(s):
See Computed Properties Notes: These files were sent by Dr. Giovanni Bonny (Nuclear Materials Science Institute of SCK-CEN, Belgium) on 2 November 2017 and posted with his permission. Giovanni Bonny also included Caution.pdf file, which explains why a large number of grid points for the s-embedding function are necessary. Giovanni Bonny noted that this warning is in fact valid for all known two-band model (2BM) potentials. Giovanni Bonny thanks Junlei Zhao (Department of Physics, University of Helsinki, Finland) for help in preparation of the LAMMPS files. Update March 15, 2020: This version was identified to not be compatible with LAMMPS versions after 7 Aug 2019 due to more rigorous format checks. File(s): superseded
See Computed Properties Notes: This is a modification to the above version posted by Lucas Hale on March 15, 2020. Missing pair function tables of all zeros were added to the FeCr_s.eam.fs file to make the files compatible with LAMMPS versions after 7 Aug 2019. Update May 26 2021: This version is not compatible for LAMMPS versions starting with 29 Oct 2020 due to Infinify and NaN values no longer allowed. File(s): superseded
See Computed Properties Notes: This is a modification to the above version posted by Lucas Hale on May 26, 2021. To make the files compatible with LAMMPS versions after 29 Oct 2020, the Infinity and NaN values associated with the Cr elemental tables at r=0 are replaced with 1e+8 and 0.0 values, respectively. File(s):
Citation: A. Stukowski, B. Sadigh, P. Erhart, and A. Caro (2009), "Efficient implementation of the concentration-dependent embedded atom method for molecular-dynamics and Monte-Carlo simulations", Modelling and Simulation in Materials Science and Engineering, 17(7), 075005. DOI: 10.1088/0965-0393/17/7/075005.
Abstract: The concentration-dependent embedded atom method (CD-EAM) is a powerful model for atomistic simulation of concentrated alloys with arbitrarily complex mixing enthalpy curves. In this paper, we show that in spite of explicit three-body forces, this model can be implemented quite simply with a computational efficiency comparable to the standard EAM for molecular-dynamics (MD) simulations. Ready-to-use subroutines for the parallel MD code LAMMPS can be provided by the authors upon request. We further propose an improved version of this potential that allows for very efficient calculations of single-particle displacement/transmutation energies, while retaining the complexity implicit in the three-body interactions. This enables large-scale Monte-Carlo simulations of alloys with the interatomic interactions described by the CD-EAM model.
See Computed Properties Notes: This file was taken from the August 22, 2018 LAMMPS distribution. It is listed as being contributed by Alexander Stukowski (Technische Universität Darmstadt) File(s):
Citation: P. Olsson, J. Wallenius, C. Domain, K. Nordlund, and L. Malerba (2005), "Two-band modeling of α-prime phase formation in Fe-Cr", Physical Review B, 72(21), 214119. DOI: 10.1103/physrevb.72.214119.
Abstract: We have developed a two-band model of Fe-Cr, fitted to properties of the ferromagnetic alloy. Fitting many-body functionals to the calculated mixing enthalpy of the alloy and the mixed interstitial binding energy in iron, our potential reproduces changes in sign of the formation energy as a function of Cr concentration. When applied in kinetic Monte Carlo simulations, the potential correctly predicts decomposition of initially random Fe-Cr alloys into the α-prime phase as function of Cr concentration.
Citation: P. Olsson, J. Wallenius, C. Domain, K. Nordlund, and L. Malerba (2006), "Erratum: Two-band modeling of α-prime phase formation in Fe-Cr [Phys. Rev. B 72, 214119 (2005)]", Physical Review B, 74(22), 229906. DOI: 10.1103/physrevb.74.229906.
Citation: J. Wallenius, P. Olsson, and C. Lagerstedt (2005), "Relation between thermal expansion and interstitial formation energy in pure Fe and Cr", Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms, 228(1-4), 122-125. DOI: 10.1016/j.nimb.2004.10.032.
Abstract: By fitting a potential of modified Finnis–Sinclair type to the thermal expansion of ferromagnetic Fe and paramagnetic Cr, stability of the <110> self-interstitial atom is obtained. The resulting potentials are relatively hard, yielding high SIA formation energies. Less hard potentials give lower interstitial formation energy, but predict too small thermal expansion. We also show that the formation energy of the <111> SIA depends on distances in-between the 2nd and 3rd neighbour. By raising the value of the pair potential in this region, the energy difference with respect to the <110> configuration calculated with VASP in the PAW approximation can be reproduced.
Citation: B.-J. Lee, J.-H. Shim, and H.M. Park (2001), "A semi-empirical atomic potential for the Fe-Cr binary system", Calphad, 25(4), 527-534. DOI: 10.1016/s0364-5916(02)00005-6.
Abstract: A semi-empirical atomic potential, the second nearest-neighbor MEAM, has been applied to obtain an atomic potential for the Fe-Cr system, based on the previously developed potentials for pure Fe and Cr. The procedure for the determination of potential parameter values and the performance of the assessed alloy potential were also presented. It was shown that the potential describes the basic thermodynamic property and alloy behavior in the bcc solid solution successfully, as well as many physical properties of pure Fe and Cr. The limit in the applicability of the present potential is also discussed.