On fragile-plastic transition in silicides of refractory metals

A fragile plastic transition in MoSi2, WSi2, VSi2 produced by diffusion saturation of metals by silicium is investigated. A strong change of fluidity point temperature dependence in silicides near the temperatures 0,6 ... 0,7 Tmelt which are close to homologic temperatures Tk of fluidity strains strong changes in several other materials with considerable covalent component of inter-atom coupling (e.g. in carbides) is found. A correlation of Tk with a parameter including the number of coupling electrons and atomic dimensions is established. 12 refs.; 2 figs.; 1 table. (author)