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Thermodynamics and the Elastic Moduli of Pu

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Abstract

Pu exhibits at least five structures below its melting point of 914 K. The lower-temperature phases have unusually low symmetry for an elemental metal, but at higher temperatures, Pu behaves like many other metals, going from fcc (face-centered cubic) to bcc (body-centered cubic) before melting. Electronic structure calculations appear to explain the lowest temperature monoclinic phase and the changes it undergoes with pressure (O. Eriksson, J. D. Baker, A. V. Balatsky, and J. M. Wills, J. Alloys Comp. 287, 1 (1999)), but the much simpler fcc phase of Pu remains difficult to understand ab initio. We show how the unusually small values of elastic moduli require that the effects of temperature and phonon entropy be included in any theory of fcc Pu, and we present new high-accuracy data for elastic moduli, that show that the elastic moduli of Ga-stabilized fcc Pu do not depend on Ga at 300 K, and that polycrystal and monocrystal elastic modulus data for Pu are in agreement.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico, 87545

    A. Migliori

  2. Los Alamos National Laboratory, Nuclear Materials and Technology Division, Los Alamos, New Mexico, 87545

    F. Freibert, J. P. Baiardo & D. A. Miller

  3. Los Alamos National Laboratory, Materials Science Division, Los Alamos, New Mexico, 87545

    J. C. Lashley & A. C. Lawson

  4. ational Center for Physical Acoustics, The University of Mississippi, Mississippi, 38677

    A. Migliori

Authors
  1. A. Migliori
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  2. F. Freibert
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  3. J. C. Lashley
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  4. A. C. Lawson
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  5. J. P. Baiardo
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  6. D. A. Miller
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Migliori, A., Freibert, F., Lashley, J.C. et al. Thermodynamics and the Elastic Moduli of Pu. Journal of Superconductivity 15, 499–503 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021079810447

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021079810447

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