Miscibility gap and phonon thermodynamics of Fe-Au alloys studied by inelastic neutron scattering and nuclear-resonant inelastic x-ray scattering

Recent measurements of the phonon spectra of several Au-rich alloys of face-centered-cubic Fe-Au using inelastic neutron scattering and nuclear-resonant inelastic x-ray scattering are summarized. The Wills-Harrison model, accounting for charge transfer upon alloying, is used to explain the observed negative excess vibrational entropy of mixing, which increases the miscibility gap temperature in the system by an estimated maximum of 550 K and we adjudicate to a charge transfer from the Fe to the Au atoms that results in an increase in the electron density in the free-electron-like states and in stronger sd-hybridization. When Au is the solvent, this softens the Fe–Fe bonds but stiffens the Au–Au and Au–Fe bonds which results in a net stiffening relative to the elemental components.