The elastic constants of antimony-25.5 at. % arsenic alloy single crystals

The six independent elastic constants of single crystals of the homogeneous, minimum melting point alloy of composition antimony 74.5 at. % and arsenic 25.5 at. % have been measured. The elastic behaviour of the alloy is compared with that of the rhombohedral A7 structure elements arsenic and antimony and is found to show characteristics consistent with those expected for layer-type crystals. Elastic wave velocity surface cross-sections, particle displacement and energy flux vectors and Young's modulus are presented and discussed. The Debye temperature is 219 K.