Some Questions of Phase Transition in Shock Waves

Abstract

The thermodynamic and the kinetic characteristics of phase transitions of solids, liquids, and dense gases cannot be, as a rule, predicted theoretically on the basis of first principles. Calculations of phase diagrams are additionally hindered by the fact that their most important characteristics, such as transition heat, the difference of phase densities, etc., are small differences of large quantities that cannot be computed accurately enough. Shock-induced polymorphic transitions are not, as a rule, in thermodynamic equilibrium, and the well-known thermodynamic relations for phase transitions (coincidence of chemical potentials in the two-phase region and the Clapeyron—Clausius equation) are useful only as approximations.