Thermodynamics of volume collapse transitions in cerium and related compounds

Abstract

We present a non-linear elastic model of a coherent transition with discontinuous volume change in an isotropic solid. The model reproduces the anomalous thermodynamics typical of coherent equilibrium including intrinsic hysteresis (for a pressure driven experiment) and a negative bulk modulus. The novelty of the model is that the statistical mechanics solution can be easily worked out. We find that coherency leads to an infinite-range density--density interaction, which drives classical critical behavior. The pressure width of the hysteresis loop shrinks with increasing temperature, ending at a critical point at a temperature related to the shear modulus. The bulk modulus softens with a 1/2 exponent at the transition even far from the critical point. Many well known features of the phase diagram of Ce and related systems are explained by the model.

Acta Materialia, in press

References in corpus (4)

• Statistical Mechanics of the Self-Gravitating Gas: I. Thermodynamic Limit and Phase Diagram
• The role of the lattice in the $\gamma \to \alpha$ phase transition of Ce: a high pressure neutron and x-ray diffraction study
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• Solid-solid volume collapse transitions are zeroth order

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