Physics & Astronomy ETDs

Publication Date

Summer 7-29-2025

Abstract

Platinum is a material standard used in high pressure and shock compression experiments at Sandia National Laboratories. During experiments, materials are subjected to a very large range of thermodynamic conditions, during which materials regularly enter the liquid-vapor coexistence region. Despite its status as a standard, the region around the liquid-vapor critical point is poorly understood for platinum, with reported critical temperatures spanning approximately 7000 K. In this dissertation we conduct density functional theory based molecular dynamics (DFTMD) simulations for platinum for a range of temperatures and densities near liquid-vapor coexistence. The phase diagram for platinum is refined near the critical point using two independent techniques for analyzing the DFTMD data. We find that the two approaches result in a critical point and liquid-vapor phase boundary that agree well. Additionally, our analyses agree within error with recent experimental measurements of the liquid side of the phase boundary of platinum.

Degree Name

Physics

Level of Degree

Doctoral

Department Name

Physics & Astronomy

First Committee Member (Chair)

David Dunlap

Second Committee Member

Joshua Townsend

Third Committee Member

Susan Atlas

Fourth Committee Member

Keith Lidke

Language

English

Keywords

platinum, vapordome, critical point, liquid-vapor coexistence, density functional theory, dftmd

Document Type

Dissertation

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