The Chemistry of Deformation: How Solutes Soften Pure Metals

Solutes have been added to strengthen elemental metals, generating usable materials for millennia; in the 1960s, solutes were found to also soften metals. Despite the empirical correlation between the “electron number” of the solute and the change in strength of the material to which it is added, the mechanism responsible for softening is poorly understood. Using state-of-the-art quantum-mechanical methods, we studied the direct interaction of...