Energy investigations on the adhesive properties of Al/TiC interfaces: First-principles study

The work of adhesion and interface energy of Al(100)/TiC(100) and Al(110)/TiC(110) coherent interface systems have been investigated by first-principles methods. To account for the effects of misfit dislocations on the semicoherent interfaces, the Peierls–Nabarro model combined with generalized stacking fault energy is employed to determine interface energy. The energy level diagrams are introduced to describe the adhesive properties of coherent and semicoherent interfaces. It is found that misfit dislocations can reduce the adhesion of interface, and the reduction is increasing with the unstable stacking fault energy.