Surface energy of arbitrary crystal plane of bcc and fcc metals

Surface energies (gamma) of arbitrary orientation crystal planes of several metals are calculated with the broken-bond model. The bonds of the nearest neighbor and second neighbor are considered, and the ratio (rho) of the second neighbor bond energy to the nearest bond energy is calculated, rho of bcc metals being larger than that of fee metals. The relations are: (1) gamma((111)) < gamma((100)) < gamma((110)), for fcc metals; (2) gamma((110)) < gamma((111)) less than or equal to gamma((110)) for bcc metals when rho less than or equal to 0.366 and (3) gamma((110)) < gamma((100)) < gamma((111)) when rho > 0.366 for bcc metals. Angular distributions of surface energies for eight metals are shown. The calculated results of gamma agree well with results obtained by previous authors with other methods. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.