Alloys

The embedded cluster Monte Carlo (ECMC) method which combines the Korringa-Kohn-Rostoker coherent potential approximation embedded cluster method (KKR-CPA-ECM) and the Monte Carlo method has been developed in order to study phase diagrams of binary alloys. The KKR-CPA-ECM provides interchange energies to the Monte Carlo code. In this thesis, a pair-interaction (PI) method is used to provide interchange energies to the Monte Carlo code. The code of the PI method is obtained based on the KKR-CPA-ECM code. The interchange energies of Cu0.5 Zn0.5 alloys are calculated with the PI method. The critical temperature and the phase boundary of Cu-Zn alloys are obtained by carrying out both Monte Carlo calculations with above interchange energies and the ECMC calculations. A comparison between the results of both methods is made.

Angle-resolved UV photoelectron spectroscopy has been used to investigate some of the properties of the occupied Shockley-type surface states that exist on the (111) surfaces of Cu, Au, ordered Cu3Au and ordered CuAuI. These states appear in normal and off-normal spectra near the Fermi level and their binding energies are independent of photon energy; however, the intensity of their emission relative to that of the d-bands is photon energy dependent, decreasing monotonically from ArI to NeI to HeI. As the emission angle is increased from the normal, the states move towards and eventually cross the Fermi level, and we have measured this dispersion in k space. We show that the occupied extents of the dispersion relations, delta k, are related to features of the bulk band structures. For example, in Cu and Au the surface state follows the dispersion of the uppermost occupied band edge in the vicinity of the L-point and so the delta k extent is related to the (111) neck radius on the Fermi surface. Because the changes in the delta k extents are of the same order as the experimental uncertainty, we are unable to determine precisely how they vary with composition. We have fitted the dispersion data to 'free-electron' parabolas and calculated an effective electron mass in each case; we find that the effective masses in the alloys are somewhat larger than in the pure metals. The photoemission measurements described here on CuAuI(111) are the first ever to be taken on an alloy of that composition.

This thesis deals with corrosion problems of underwater turbines in marine environment. The effect of a tensile stress on the uniform corrosion rate of a metal bar is studied, and an analytical model predicting the time of service of a bar under a tensile load in a corrosive environment is proposed. Stress corrosion relationships are provided for different type of alloys, and different types of relationships. Dolinskii's and Gutman's models are studied and extended to a general order polynomial, along with a Least Square and Spline Interpolation of the experimental data. In a second part, the effect of the passive film, delaying the initiation of the corrosion process, is studied. Finally, an algorithm predicting the time of service of a cracked bar is provided, using the stress corrosion assumption, along with a validation using experimental data.