Charge transfer on the metallic atom pair bond, and the crystal structures adopted by intermetallic compounds

Abstract: Pauling had proposed that charge is transferred from the more electronegative atom to the less electronegative one during metallic alloying. An expression has recently been derived for the energy of the unlike atom-pair bond using that concept. In this paper, Pauling's view is further supported by showing that the electronegativity and valence differences between unlike atoms in binary metallic alloys are of the required magnitude and direction so as to bring the metallic radii ratio R_A/R_B by charge transfer to a value r_A/r_B for ideal packing in an intermetallic compound. It is also demonstrated that lattice parameters of intermetallic compounds belonging to several crystal structure types can be obtained with excellent accuracy from the length of the atom-pair bond.