Electronic properties of Cu–Zn–Al alloys

The stability of Cu–Zn–Al was studied by total-energy calculations using the KKR–CPA method. Mixing and elastic and chemical energies, solubility lines, and Fermi surfaces were computed for the fcc and bcc structure. We find that the martensitic transformation can be considered as a transition from a disordered bcc to a disordered fcc structure. Fermi-surface nesting leads to DO23 ordering while the van Hove singularities contribute to the instability of the fcc structure.