FP-LAPW Based Investigation of Structural, Electronic and Mechanical Properties of CePb3 Intermetallic Compound

A theoretical study of structural, electronic, elastic and mechanical properties of CePb3 intermetallic compound has been investigated systematically using first principles density functional theory. The calculations are carried out within the three different forms of generalized gradient approximation (GGA) and LSDA for the exchange correlation potential. The ground state properties such as lattice parameter (a(0)), bulk modulus (B) and its pressure derivative (B') are calculated and obtained lattice parameter of this compound shows well agreement with the experimental results. We have calculated three independent second order elastic constants (C-11, C-12 and C-44), which has not been calculated and measured yet. From energy dispersion curves, it is found that the studied compound is metallic in nature. Ductility of this compound is analyzed using Pugh's criteria and Cauchy's pressure (C-11-C-12). The mechanical properties such as Young's modulus, shear modulus, anisotropic ratio, Poison's ratio have been calculated for the first time using the Voigt-Reuss-Hill (VRH) averaging scheme. The average sound velocities (nu(m)), density (rho) and Debye temperature (theta(D)) of this compound are also estimated from the elastic constants.