Electrical and Thermal Resistivities of the Nonmagnetic Transition Metals with a Two-Band Model

Abstract

A two‐band spherical model is used to represent the conduction electrons of the nonmagnetic transition metals with an incomplete d shell. It is shown by comparison with experimental results that phonon‐induced interband s‐d transitions are the major contributor to the electrical and thermal resistivities ρ and W at all but the lowest temperatures. Consequently, the momentum gap between the s and d bands is an important parameter of the theory and may be used to classify the behavior of ρ and W. At the lowest temperatures it is found that the experimental data for ρ of all the transition metals studied may be consistently interpreted if it is assumed that electron‐electron scattering processes are important.