Does aluminum play well with others? Intrinsic Al-A alloying behavior in 211/312 MAX phases

The search for further control over the properties of MAX phases as well as the promise of discovering compounds with new functionalities has resulted in an increased interest in MAX solid solutions resulting from mixing in either the M, A, or X sublattices. The possibility of alloying MAX compounds not only enables finer tuning of their properties but can also be used to stabilize compounds that may otherwise be metastable in their pure state. In this letter, we present an <i>ab initio</i>-based investigation of the intrinsic alloying behavior in the A sublattice of Ti(Al,A)C, Zr(Al,A)C and Ti(Al,A)C MAX compounds. <b>IMPACT STATEMENT</b> In this work, we present for the first time a comprehensive study of the intrinsic alloying tendencies in MAX solid solutions with (Al,A) mixing in the A sublattice.