Third-order elastic constants and pressure derivatives of the second-order elastic constants of β-tin Original Research Article

The second- and third-order elastic constants and pressure derivatives of second-order elastic constants of tetragonal β-tin have been obtained using the deformation theory. The strain energy density derived using the deformation theory is compared with the strain dependent lattice energy obtained from the elastic continuum model approximation to get the expressions for the second- and third-order elastic constants. Higher order elastic constants are a measure of the anharmonicity of a crystal lattice. The 12 non-vanishing third-order elastic constants and the six pressure derivatives of the second-order elastic constants in tetragonal β-tin are obtained in the present work and are compared with the available experimental values. The second-order elastic constant C33 obtained in the present study is in reasonable agreement with the experimental values. The third-order elastic constants are generally one order of magnitude greater than the second-order elastic constants as expected of a crystalline solid. The third-order elastic constant C333 is higher in magnitude than all other values. This shows a greater anharmonicity of β-tin along the c-axis direction of the crystal.