Specific heat and superconducting properties of Zr-Mo alloys

The low temperature specific heat of bcc alloys of zirconium base Zr-Mo has been measured in order to investigate their superconducting properties. It was observed that the small addition of molybdenum to zirconium results in a steep rise of the electronic specific heat coefficient, γ, and a decrease of the Debye temperature, θ D. From the knowledge of γ and θ D the variation of the superconducting transition temperature, T c, of zirconium concentration was analyzed with the McMillan theory, and it is suggested that an enhancement of T c due to the small addition of molybdenum may be ascribed to the sharp rise of the electronic density of states at the Fermi surface.