Melting behavior of aluminum up to 160 GPa: Consistency between dynamic and hydrostatic compression experiments
Phys. Rev. B 112, 064106 – Published 11 August, 2025Erratum Phys. Rev. B 113, 099901 (2026)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/znfp-82fh
Abstract
Aluminum has been extensively studied under high-pressure and high-temperature conditions due to its role as a standard material in shock-wave experiments and its nearly free-electron s/p structure. In this study, we investigate the Hugoniot temperature and melting behavior of polycrystalline Al using a two-stage light-gas gun with time-resolved in situ shock temperature measurements, up to a pressure of 155.8(1.7) GPa and a temperature of 5394(543) K. Our measured Hugoniot temperature in the solid phase aligns with previous theoretical simulations. Shock-induced melting of Al is observed at 125 GPa, corresponding to a melting temperature of 4576(235) K. This value is broadly consistent with hydrostatic high-pressure experimental results when reasonably extrapolated. By integrating both static and dynamic experimental data, we derive the melting curve of Al up to 180 GPa using the Simon melting equation. Our results indicate that both dynamic and static experiments are actually consistent on the melting line of Al, if the thermal pressure is corrected in the latter.
