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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 19 records

The phase diagram of Ti-6Al-4V at high-pressures and high-temperatures

We report results from a series of diamond-anvil-cell synchrotron x-ray diffraction and large-volume-press experiments, and calculations, to investigate the phase diagram of commercial polycrystalline high-strength Ti-6Al-4V alloy in pressure–temperature space. Up to ~30 GPa and 886 K, Ti-6Al-4V is found to be stable in the hexagonal-close-packed, or α phase. The effect of temperature on the volume expansion and compressibility of α–Ti-6Al-4V is modest. The martensitic α → ω (hexagonal) transition occurs at ~30 GPa, with both phases coexisting until at ~38–40 GPa the transition to the ω phase is completed. Between 300 K and 844 K the α → ω transition appears to be independent of temperature. ω–Ti-6Al-4V is stable to ~91 GPa and 844 K, the highest combined pressure and temperature reached in these experiments. Pressure–volume–temperature equations-of-state for the α and ω phases of Ti-6Al-4V are generated and found to be similar to pure Ti. A pronounced hysteresis is observed in the ω–Ti-6Al-4V on decompression, with the hexagonal structure reverting back to the α phase at pressures below ~9 GPa at room temperature, and at a higher pressure at elevated temperatures. Based on our data, we estimate the Ti-6Al-4V α–β–ω triple point to occur at ~900 K and 30 GPa, in good agreement with our calculations.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

First-principles analysis of the Al-rich corner of Al-Li-Cu phase diagram

The phase diagram of Al-Li-Cu system in the Al-rich region was determined by means of first-principles calculations and statistical mechanics. The mixing enthalpies of many configurations for different lattices in the whole Al-Li-Cu system were determined by density functional theory simulations to find the stable phases in the convex hull. They were fitted with a cluster expansion to calculate the free energy of the configurations with different compositions as a function of temperature in the Al-rich region (Al content > 40 at.%) by means of Monte Carlo simulations. It was found that the ground state phases in the Al-rich part of the Al-Li-Cu phase diagram were α-Al, θ' (Al 2 Cu), $δ$' (Al 3 Li), $δ$ (AlLi) and T 1 (Al 6 Cu 4 Li 3 ), while θ'' (Al 3 Cu), T 1' (Al 2 CuLi) and Al 3 Cu 2 Li were found on the lowest mixing enthalpy surfaces of their lattices and were metastable. α-Al, $δ$ and T 1 are stable phases in the whole temperature range while $δ$' becomes metastable at very low temperature and θ (Al 2 Cu) replaces θ' as the stable phase at approximately 550 K due to the vibrational entropic contribution. In addition, the phase diagram in the Al-rich region was built and it was shown in isothermal sections from 100 to 900 K. They were in good agreement with the limited experimental data in the literature and provided new information regarding the stability, solubility and stoichiometry of the different phases. This information is important to understand the precipitation mechanisms during high temperature aging.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Melting phase diagram of bubble phases in high Landau levels

A low-disorder, two-dimensional electron system (2DES) subjected to a large perpendicular magnetic field and cooled to very low temperatures provides a rich platform for studies of many-body quantum phases. The magnetic field quenches the electrons' kinetic energy and quantizes the energy into a set of Landau levels, allowing the Coulomb interaction to dominate. In excited Landau levels, the fine interplay between short- and long-range interactions stabilizes bubble phases, Wigner crystals with more than one electron per unit cell. In this work, we present the screening properties of bubble phases, probed via a simple capacitance technique where the 2DES is placed between a top and a bottom gate and the electric field penetrating through the 2DES is measured. The bubbles formed at very low temperatures screen the electric field poorly as they are pinned by the residual disorder potential, allowing a large electric field to reach the top gate. As the temperature is increased, the penetrating electric field decreases and, surprisingly, exhibits a pronounced minimum at a temperature that appears to coincide with the melting temperature of the bubble phase. We deduce a quantitative phase diagram, as a function of Landau level filling factor (ν) and temperature, for the transition from the bubble to liquid phases for 4 ≤ ν ≤ 5.

2-dimensional systems↗

A redetermination of the succinonitrile-water phase diagram

The phase diagram of the water/succinonitrile system often used in modeling binary metallic alloys is determined experimentally using a laser scattering method. Triply distilled and zone-refined succinonitrile is placed in a jacketed water-cooled vessel with a magnetic mixer and a copper-constantan thermocouple, and the melting point is determined under vacuum and under Ar by observing the response of a photodiode placed opposite a laser source as the chamber is cooled and reheated. Then water is added, and the eutectic and monotectic temperatures and the entire phase diagram are determined under Ar. The results are presented in a table and graph and compared to those of Schreinemakers (1897): significant discrepancies are noted and attributed to impurities in the succinonitrile used by Schreinemakers. The importance of accurate phase diagrams for modeling binary alloys is stressed.

Smith, J. E., Jr.↗

Ternary Phase Diagram of Water/Bio-Oil/Organic Solvent for Bio-Oil Fractionation

Separating bio-oil by fractionation with different chemical composition is a critical step to refine these oils and obtain high value products. Cold-water precipitation of pyrolytic lignin from bio-oil is the most common approach used. However, the obtained aqueous phase from this method still contain phenols, is diluted and difficult to use. In this study, the use of liquid-liquid extraction with different solvents (1-butanol, ethyl acetate, 1-octanol, dichloromethane, toluene, and hexane) for the separation of targeted molecules (lignin oligomers, sugars, acetic acid) is explored. Ternary phase diagrams for the organic solvent/water/bio-oil are reported. The partition coefficient of compounds of interest (both light and heavy fraction) is reported for the liquid-liquid equilibrium zone. When using butanol as solvent, the highest separation factor of total phenols over total sugars was observed. Furthermore, our results provide information to design L-L separation units with the capacity to selectively recover targeted molecules from pyrolysis oils.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗

Algorithmic phase diagrams

Algorithmic phase diagrams are a neat and compact representation of the results of comparing the execution time of several algorithms for the solution of the same problem. As an example, the recent results are shown of Gannon and Van Rosendale on the solution of multiple tridiagonal systems of equations in the form of such diagrams. The act of preparing these diagrams has revealed an unexpectedly complex relationship between the best algorithm and the number and size of the tridiagonal systems, which was not evident from the algebraic formulae in the original paper. Even so, for a particular computer, one diagram suffices to predict the best algorithm for all problems that are likely to be encountered the prediction being read directly from the diagram without complex calculation.

Hockney, Roger↗

Phase diagram to demarcate supercritical, transcritical, and continuous phase regimes for binary fluid equilibrium mixing relevant to combustion applications

Here, a robust methodology to develop phase diagrams of binary fluid mixtures at fixed thermo dynamic conditions (pressure, temperature, and mole fraction) as well as of two initially separated fluids undergoing mixing near critical conditions are presented for fluids and con ditions relevant to rockets, gas turbines, and diesel engine applications. Phase equilibria of mixtures is first examined to provide insight into the continuous-phase mixing behavior (including but not limited to supercritical behavior), and to develop a broadly applicable phase-diagram for binary fluid mixtures at fixed conditions. Next, adiabatic mixing theory and reduced Helmholtz equations of state are used to predict the thermodynamic conditions required to attain continuous-phase binary fluid mixing near critical conditions. Then, a 3D surface diagram (P,T fuel ,T amb ) separating single and two-phase regions is constructed by varying the ambient pressure and the initial temperatures of the two fluids. Polynomial fits of the 3D surfaces for 10 different binary mixtures are tabulated for nitrogen-alkane and methane-oxygen blends relevant to air-breathing and propellant based engines, respectively.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Resistivity phase diagram of cuprates revisited

The phase diagram of the cuprate superconductors has posed a formidable scientific challenge for more than three decades. This challenge is perhaps best exemplified by the need to understand the normal-state charge transport as the system evolves from Mott insulator to Fermi- liquid metal with doping. Here in this paper, we report a detailed analysis of the temperature (T) and doping (p) dependence of the planar resistivity of simple-tetragonal HgBa 2 CuO 4+δ (Hg1201), the single- CuO 2 -layer cuprate with the highest optimal superconducting transition temperature, T c . The data allow us to test a recently proposed phenomenological model for the cuprate phase diagram that combines a universal transport scattering rate with spatially inhomogeneous (de)localization of the Mott-localized hole. We find that the model provides a good description of the data. We then extend this analysis to prior transport results for several other cuprates, including the Hall number in the overdoped part of the phase diagram, and find little compound-to-compound variation in (de)localization gap scale. The results point to a robust, universal structural origin of the inherent gap inhomogeneity that is unrelated to doping-related disorder. They are inconsistent with the notion that much of the phase diagram is controlled by a quantum critical point, and instead indicate that the unusual electronic properties exhibited by the cuprates are fundamentally related to strong nonlinearities associated with subtle nanoscale inhomogeneity.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Hall effect in LaCrGe 3 at pressures up to 24 kbar and a 𝐻−𝑇 phase diagram of the pressure-induced magnetic phase

LaCrGe 3 is a metallic, itinerant ferromagnet with 𝑇 𝐶 ≈ 86K and an easy magnetic direction along its hexagonal 𝑐 axis. Here we present studies of the 𝐻 ∥ 𝑐 Hall effect in LaCrGe 3 at ambient pressure and under pressures up to 24 kbar. At ambient pressure the anomalous Hall conductivity in the ferromagnetic state reaches a large value of ∼520 Ω − 1 cm −1 . The overall data are consistent with the behavior expected for a ferromagnet with magnetic field applied along its easy axis. Measurements under pressure yield an 𝐻 = 0, 𝑃−𝑇 phase diagram consistent with earlier publications with 𝑇 𝐶 being suppressed with pressure and nonferromagnetic phases appearing for 𝑃 >15 kbar. The data suggest that the observed 𝑇 𝐶 suppression is due to the pressure-dependent exchange interactions rather than suppression of the size of the magnetic moment. Field-dependent Hall resistivity in the higher-pressure, nonferromagnetic state is consistent with the net moment being zero for 𝐻=0. In a finite field there is a sharp anomaly comparable to the one associated with a spin-flip metamagnetic transition. The 𝐻−𝑇 phase diagrams corresponding to a pressure-induced magnetic phase are constructed for several pressures. In conclusion, the Hall data suggest the possibility of the pressure-induced nonferromagnetic phase being a combination of multiple small regions of antiferromagnetic phases with different wave vectors.

Bud'ko, Sergey L. [Ames Laboratory, and Iowa State↗

Machine learning the metastable phase diagram of covalently bonded carbon

Abstract Conventional phase diagram generation involves experimentation to provide an initial estimate of the set of thermodynamically accessible phases and their boundaries, followed by use of phenomenological models to interpolate between the available experimental data points and extrapolate to experimentally inaccessible regions. Such an approach, combined with high throughput first-principles calculations and data-mining techniques, has led to exhaustive thermodynamic databases (e.g. compatible with the CALPHAD method), albeit focused on the reduced set of phases observed at distinct thermodynamic equilibria. In contrast, materials during their synthesis, operation, or processing, may not reach their thermodynamic equilibrium state but, instead, remain trapped in a local (metastable) free energy minimum, which may exhibit desirable properties. Here, we introduce an automated workflow that integrates first-principles physics and atomistic simulations with machine learning (ML), and high-performance computing to allow rapid exploration of the metastable phases to construct “metastable” phase diagrams for materials far-from-equilibrium. Using carbon as a prototypical system, we demonstrate automated metastable phase diagram construction to map hundreds of metastable states ranging from near equilibrium to far-from-equilibrium (400 meV/atom). We incorporate the free energy calculations into a neural-network-based learning of the equations of state that allows for efficient construction of metastable phase diagrams. We use the metastable phase diagram and identify domains of relative stability and synthesizability of metastable materials. High temperature high pressure experiments using a diamond anvil cell on graphite sample coupled with high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) confirm our metastable phase predictions. In particular, we identify the previously ambiguous structure of n -diamond as a cubic-analog of diaphite-like lonsdaelite phase.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Exploring the QCD Phase Diagram

Exploring the QCD phase diagram through relativistic heavy-ion collisions is a primary goal of modern nuclear physics. This contribution focuses on fluctuations and correlations of conserved charges — specifically net-baryon and net-charge cumulants — as sensitive probes of the phase structure and the QCD critical point. We discuss recent theoretical and experimental advancements, highlighting constraints from lattice QCD and new results from the RHIC Beam Energy Scan program. Key challenges in theory-to-experiment comparisons at high baryon density are discussed, alongside the systematic requirements for meaningful physical interpretation. Finally, we identify open issues and outline the discovery potential of future low-energy experiments, such as CBM, in resolving the high-density regime of the phase diagram.

Koch, V. [Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (L↗

Ab Initio Phase Diagram of Tungsten

The phase diagram of tungsten (W) to a pressure (P) of 2500 GPa is investigated using a comprehensive ab initio approach that includes (i) the calculation of the zero temperature (T) free energies (enthalpies) of different solid structures, (ii) the quantum molecular dynamics simulation of the melting curves of different solid structures, (iii) the derivation of the analytic form for the solid-solid phase transition boundary, and (iv) the simulations of the solidification of liquid W into the final solid states on both sides of the solid-solid phase transition boundary, in order to confirm the corresponding analytic form. There are two solid structures confirmed to be present on the phase diagram of W, the ambient body-centered cubic (bcc) and the high-pressure double hexagonal close-packed (dhcp). At T = 0, the bcc-dhcp transition occurs at 1060 GPa, and the transition boundary has a positive slope dT/dP : the bcc-dhcp-liquid triple point is at (P, T) = (1675 GPa, 23680 K).

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Learning the stable and metastable phase diagram to accelerate the discovery of metastable phases of boron

Boron, an element of captivating chemical intricacy, has been surrounded by controversies ever since its discovery in 1808. The complexities of boron stem from its unique position between metals and insulators in the Periodic Table. Recent computational studies have shed light on some of the stable boron allotropes. However, the demand for multifunctionality necessitates the need to go beyond the stable phases into the realm of metastability and explore the potentially vast but elusive metastable phases of boron. Traditional search for stable phases of materials has focused on identifying materials with the lowest enthalpy. Here, we introduce a workflow that uses reinforcement learning coupled with decision trees, such as Monte Carlo tree search, to search for stable and metastable boron phases, with enthalpy as the objective. We discover new boron metastable phases and construct a phase diagram that locates their phase space (T, P) at different levels of metastability (ΔG) from the ground state and provides useful information on the domains of relative stability of the various stable and metastable boron phases.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Determining Multi-Component Phase Diagrams with Desired Characteristics Using Active Learning

Herein, we demonstrate how to predict and experimentally validate phase diagrams for multi-component systems from a high-dimensional virtual space of all possible phase diagrams involving several elements based on small existing experimental data. The experimental data for bulk phases for known systems represents a sampling from this space, and screening the space allows multi-component phase diagrams with given design criteria to be built. This approach uses machine learning methods to predict phase diagrams and Bayesian experimental design to minimize experiments for refinement and validation, all within an active learning loop. The approach is proven by predicting and synthesizing the ferroelectric ceramic system (1-ω)(Ba 0.61 Ca 0.28 Sr 0.11 TiO 3 )-ω(BaTi 0.888 Zr 0.0616 Sn 0.0028 Hf 0.0476 O 3 ) with a relatively high transition temperature and triple point, as well as the NiTi-based pseudo-binary phase diagram (1-ω)(Ti 0.309 Ni 0.485 Hf 0.20 Zr 0.006 )-ω(Ti 0.309 Ni 0.485 Hf 0.07 Zr 0.068 Nb 0.068 ) designed for high transition temperature (ω ≤ 1). Each phase diagram is validated and optimized through only three new experiments. The complexity of these compounds is beyond the reach of today’s computational methods.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Femtosecond diffraction studies of the sodium chloride phase diagram under laser shock compression

The phase diagram of sodium chloride (NaCl) under laser shock compression has been studied at Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) at the x-ray free-electron laser facility. Both solid–solid (B1 → B2) and solid–liquid (B2 → liquid) transitions have been observed along the Hugoniot over nanosecond time scales. By combining structural measurements through in situ x-ray diffraction, pressure determination through velocimetry, and a thermal equation-of-state, the shock-compressed data are used to constrain the phase diagram of NaCl. Transformation into the B2 phase is found to occur at 28(2) GPa, and B2–liquid coexistence is observed between 54(4) and 66(6) GPa, with near full melt at 66(6) GPa. Late-time pressure release from an initial shocked B2-state results in a B2 → B1 back transformation. Our results show agreement with previous static compression data, suggesting that the time scale for melting is very rapid and that equilibrium states in NaCl are being accessed over nanosecond time scales. Finally, a multiphase equation-of-state description of NaCl incorporated into a one-dimensional hydrocode is used to interpret pressure and temperature evolution over these rapid time scales.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

First principles prediction of the Al-Li phase diagram including configurational and vibrational entropic contributions

The whole Al-Li phase diagram is predicted from first principles calculations and statistical mechanics including the effect of configurational and vibrational entropy. The formation enthalpy of different configurations at different temperatures was accurately predicted by means of cluster expansions that were fitted from first principles calculations. The vibrational entropic contribution of each configuration was determined from the bond length vs. bond stiffness relationships for each type of bond and the Gibbs free energy of the different phases was obtained as a function of temperature from Monte Carlo simulations. The predicted phase diagram was in excellent agreement with the currently accepted experimental one in terms of the stable (AlLi, Al 2 Li 3 , AlLi 2 , Al 4 Li 9 ) and metastable (Al 3 Li) phases, of the phase boundaries between them and of the maximum stability temperature of line compounds. In addition, it provided accurate information about the gap between Al 3 Li and AlLi solvus lines. Finally, the influence of the vibrational entropy on the correct prediction of the phase diagram is discussed. Overall, the methodology shows that accurate phase diagrams of alloys of technological interest can be predicted from first principles calculations.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗