Measurement of the Electric Conductivity of Tungsten
in a Continuous Liquid-to-Gas Transition

V. N. Korobenko, A. D. Rakhel, A. I. Savvatimskiy, and V. E. Fortov

Institute for High Energy Densities, Associated Institute for High Temperatures, Russian Academy of Sciences,
Izhorskaya ul. 13/19, Moscow, 125412 Russia

Received May 29, 2002

Abstract—A method is developed that makes it possible to investigate the transition of a metal from a con-
densed to a gaseous phase while maintaining almost uniform temperature and pressure distributions in the sam-
ple. The method consists in the pulsed Joule heating of a sample in the form of a thin foil strip placed between
two relatively thick glass plates. This method is used to measure the conductivity of tungsten in a process during
which the pressure in the sample is maintained at a level of 40–60 kbar and the density of the sample decreases
from the normal solid density to a density 20 to 30 times lower. It is found that, along the 40-kbar isobar, the
density dependence of the conductivity of tungsten changes radically at a certain density value, at which it has
a pronounced kink. At the kink, the density of tungsten is approximately ten times lower than its characteristic
solid density, and the internal energy is about two times the sublimation energy. The method makes it possible
to carry out experiments with the almost isobaric heating of tungsten in the parameter range in which the effect
inquestion takes place. No such effect is detected in nonisobaric processes. © 2002 MAIK “Nauka/Interperi-
odica”.

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