Constant electrical resistivity of Zn along the melting boundary up to 5 GPa

ABSTRACT

We measured the electrical resistivity of high purity Zn along the melting boundary, up to 5 GPa in a large volume press. The electrical resistivity remained constant on the melting boundary, as predicted in a thermodynamics-based model for simple metals. The effects of pressure and temperature on the electrical resistivity of the solid and liquid states are interpreted in terms of their antagonistic effects on the electronic structure of Zn. Within the error of measurements, our melting temperature data agree well with those of the previous studies. The electronic thermal conductivity was calculated from resistivity data using the Wiedemann–Franz law and shows a decrease with temperature in the solid state and an increase in the liquid state, with a large decrease on melting. Comparison of calculated electronic and measured total thermal conductivities indicates that the electronic component dominates over the phonon component in Zn.

KEYWORDS:

• Electrical resistivity
• melting boundary
• Zn
• high pressure–temperature
• thermal conductivity

Acknowledgements

We thank Jon Jacobs and Dr Wenjun Young for help with experiments. RAS acknowledges NSERC for a Discovery Grant.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Innocent C. Ezenwa http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4872-6735

Richard A. Secco http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5029-659X

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada [Grant Number RGPIN/105604-2013]