Density and heat capacity of liquid uranium at high temperatures

Abstract

Measurements of volume expansion, temperature, resistivity and enthalpy have been made for liquid uranium from 2632 to 5408 K by the isobaric expansion technique wherein a wire surrounded by inert gas is heated with a current pulse, and measurements are made quickly before the liquid column collapses. The heat capacity found for the liquid is 0.047 kJ/mol K, and the volume thermal expansion coefficient is 99 × 10−6 per K. It was also observed that the solid phase transitions occurred as equilibrium transitions at heating rates of approximately 130 million degrees per second.