Lattice Vibrations Change the Solid Solubility of an Alloy at High Temperatures.

We develop a method to accurately and efficiently determine the vibrational free energy as a function of temperature and volume for substitutional alloys from first principles. Taking Ti_{1-x}Al_{x}N alloy as a model system, we calculate the isostructural phase diagram by finding the global minimum of the free energy corresponding to the true equilibrium state of the system. We demonstrate that the vibrational contribution including anharmonicity and temperature dependence of the mixing enthalpy have a decisive impact on the calculated phase diagram of a Ti_{1-x}Al_{x}N alloy, lowering the maximum temperature for the miscibility gap from 6560 to 2860 K. Our local chemical composition measurements on thermally aged Ti_{0.5}Al_{0.5}N alloys agree with the calculated phase diagram.