Temperature dependence of single-crystal elastic constants of Mo(Si,Al)2

The temperature dependence of single-crystal elastic constants of Mo(Si,Al)2 with the hexagonal C40 structure has been measured by the rectangular parallelepiped resonance method over the temperature range from room temperature to 1373 K. The silicide has the largest value of Poisson's ratio among transition-metal silicides with the C40 structure. This is interpreted in terms of the reduced directionality in atomic bonding due to the partial substitution of Al for Si atoms. The expression of the elastic constants on the basis of simple interatomic interactions cannot reproduce the elastic anisotropy of crystal with the C40 structure. The disagreement is considered to be a consequence of the occurrence of internal displacements during elastic deformation in crystals with the non-centrosymmetry.