Electronic and Crystal Structure of the ZrCu Intermetallic Compound Close to the Point of Structural Transformation

It is found that cooling of the B2 high‐temperature phase of ZrCu above the martensitic transition (MT) point is not accompanied by essential changes of its electronic structure. MT in ZrCu is realized generally by the formation of two monoclinic martensites with positive volume effect. The electronic structure of the B2 phase of ZrCu demonstrates a sharp peak of the electron density of states just above the Fermi level, which plays a stabilization role related to the shear deformation above MT. This stabilization effect rapidly weakens on cooling and can be the possible origin of the lattice instability of the high‐temperature B2 phase of the ZrCu intermetallic compound. [Russian Text Ignored]