Thermal Hysteresis of Mesoscopic Phase Transitions in Fluid and Solid Metals: Critical Point and Global Diagram of Tantalum

• Published in: International journal of thermophysics Vol. 43; no. 6
• Main Authors: Dragan, G. S., Rogankov, V. B., Rogankov, O. V.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.06.2022; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Alkali metals; Classical Mechanics; Clustering; Condensed Matter Physics; Corresponding states; Critical point; Critical temperature; Geophysics; Industrial Chemistry/Chemical Engineering; Mean field theory; Melt temperature; Metals; Metastable state; Phase transitions; Physical Chemistry; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Refractory metals; Tantalum; Thermodynamics; Irreversibility influence; Dynamic experiments; Fluctuation thermodynamics; Tantalum vapor–liquid diagram
• ISSN: 0195-928X; 1572-9567
• DOI: 10.1007/s10765-022-03018-9

Principle of corresponding states proposes a variety of predictive methods for re-establishing the global vapor–liquid ( vl ) coexistence curve ( cxc ) from the melting temperature ( T m ) up to the critical temperature ( T c ). The vast majority of them are based on limited input from static experiments. One of the most stringent tests of predictive capability is the compatibility with dynamic density measurements for refractory metals such as tantalum (Ta). The determinative influence of coupled changes in the internal temperature/pressure parameters during the ultrafast non-equilibrium measurements is considered in this work. Supposedly the same factor gives an impetus to the clustering trend in metallic vapors. At mesoscopic nanoscales it triggers the formation of steady liquid and/or solid droplets in regions where the mean-field theory predicts the metastable state of matter. An indirect experimental confirmation of such local phase transitions in the overheated vapors of alkali metals Cs, Rb of I-A group was introduced earlier by Ewing et al . Here it is predicted in tantalum—the metal of V-A group. A physically motivated criterion of the dynamic clusterization was introduced. Supposedly it can be applicable in studies of other metals and their oxides as well as for neutral fluids.