Molecular dynamic simulation study of molten cesium

Abstract

Molecular dynamics simulations were performed to study thermodynamics and structural properties of expanded caesium fluid. Internal pressure, radial distribution functions (RDFs), coordination numbers and diffusion coefficients have been calculated at temperature range 700–1600 K and pressure range 100–800 bar. We used the internal pressure to predict the metal–non-metal transition occurrence region. RDFs were calculated at wide ranges of temperature and pressure. The coordination numbers decrease and positions of the first peak of RDFs slightly increase as the temperature increases and pressure decreases. The calculated self-diffusion coefficients at various temperatures and pressures show no distinct boundary between Cs metallic fluid and its expanded fluid where it continuously increases with temperature.

Keywords

• metal- nonmetal transition
• MD simulation
• internal pressure
• RDF