Graphite melting under laser pulse heating

• Published in: International Journal of Thermophysics; (United States) 1992, Vol.13 (1), p.107-129
• Main Authors: RONCHI, C, BEUKERS, R, HEINZ, H, HIERNAUT, J. P, SELFSLAG, R
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: CARBON; Condensed matter: structure, mechanical and thermal properties; DATA; DATA COVARIANCES; ELEMENTAL MINERALS; ELEMENTS; Equations of state, phase equilibria, and phase transitions; Exact sciences and technology; EXPERIMENTAL DATA; GRAPHITE; HEATING; INFORMATION; LASER-RADIATION HEATING; MATERIALS SCIENCE; MEASURING INSTRUMENTS; MELTING; MICROSTRUCTURE; MINERALS; NONMETALS; NUMERICAL DATA; PHASE STUDIES; PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS; Physics; PLASMA HEATING 360602 > Other Materials-- Structure & Phase Studies; PYROMETERS; Specific phase transitions; TEMPERATURE MEASUREMENT; TRIPLE POINT
• ISSN: 0195-928X; 1572-9567
• DOI: 10.1007/BF00503360

For a long time, the solid/liquid/vapor triple point of graphite has been a subject of debate, and despite the progress in the experimental techniques adopted, the uncertainties became even greater in recent years. In the experiments described in this paper spherical graphite specimens were heated by four tetrahedrally oriented laser beams to produce a fairly uniform temperature on the surface. A sufficiently large amount of molten graphite was produced to make it possible to identify the liquid/solid transition by a conventional thermoanalytical method. The temperature was measured by multichannel pyrometry, which enabled a detailed analysis of the perturbations and errors to be carried out. The triple point of graphite was determined to be T[sub t] = 4100 [+-] 50 K and p[sub t] = 110 [+-] 10 bar. 22 refs., 17 figs., 2 tabs.