Analytic calculation of formation enthalpies directly from interatomic potentials for binary and ternary refractory metal systems

An analytic method is proposed to calculate the formation enthalpy directly from empirical n-body potential and applied to the binary and ternary systems consisting of the refractory metals Mo, Nb, Ta and W. It turns out that the calculated enthalpies are in overall agreement with experimental observations and some other theoretical calculations. Interestingly, it shows that the formation enthalpies of the ternary systems are significantly affected by those of the constituent binary systems.