Zero-temperature bulk modulus of alpha-plutonium

H. Ledbetter, A. Migliori, J. Betts, S. Harrington, S. El-Khatib

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32 Scopus citations

Abstract

Using resonant-ultrasound spectroscopy, we measured alpha-plutonium's bulk modulus B between 298 and 18 K. Fitting the measurements to an Einstein-oscillator-based function gave the zero-temperature bulk modulus Bo =70.9 GPa. We compare our measurement with numerous previous measurements and with numerous theoretical estimates ranging from 41 to 227 GPa. From 0 to 300 K, B (T) is regular and smooth, evincing no phase transition (electronic, magnetic, structural). The bulk modulus decreases to 54.4 GPa, about 30%, a very large change compared with typical materials. We attribute this large decrease to electron localization during warming. High-temperature dBdT yields a Gruneisen parameter γ=5.1, too high we believe because of temperature-induced electron localization. From the low-temperature elastic constants, averaged in the usual Debye v-3 manner, we obtain a Debye temperature ΘD =205 K.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number172101
JournalPhysical Review B - Condensed Matter and Materials Physics
Volume71
Issue number17
DOIs
StatePublished - 2005

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