The thermodynamics of hydride precipitation: The importance of entropy, enthalpy and disorder

The thermodynamics of H/α-Zr solid solution and zirconium hydride phases were studied using density functional theory. Disorder in ζ, γ and δ hydrides and solid solutions were modelled using a statistically significant number of randomly generated structures in combination with special quasi-random structures and solid solutions with a range of concentrations. This is used in conjunction with a calculation of thermodynamic parameters of the system, including the temperature dependent sensible enthalpy, configurational entropy and vibrational entropy of the different crystals in the system, developed from phonon density of states. It was found that precipitation of hydrides is not thermodynamically favourable for Zr-H solid solutions containing less than 300 ppm H, suggesting that a mechanism must cause local concentration of H atoms to a greater amount than found globally in experimental samples containing hydrides. Temperature drives the reaction in the direction of solution, primarily due to entropic effects. Generally, γ hydride is the most stable phase, although it is very close in energy to the δ-phase. The sensible enthalpy of precipitation assists in stabilising HCP hydrides, and the configurational entropy change during precipitation favours FCC hydrides. None of the thermodynamic contributions are found to be negligible in driving precipitation.