Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 29, 2025

A Method to Manipulate Surface Tension of a Liquid Metal via Surface Oxidation and Reduction
Published on: January 26, 2016
Theoretical investigation on the solid-liquid phase transition of gallium through free energy analysis
1Department of Chemical Engineering, National Institute of Technology Rourkela, Rourkela, 769008, India.
Context:
Gallium, renowned for its notably low melting point and unique property of becoming liquid at room temperature, is a valuable constituent in phase change materials. In this study, we investigate the solid-liquid phase transition of gallium using the modified embedded atom method (MEAM) potential. It addresses the technique to compute the free energy difference between the solid and liquid without using a reference state. We examine various thermodynamic and dynamic properties, including density, specific heat capacity, diffusivity, and radial distribution functions. We compute the coexistence temperature of the solid-liquid phase transitions of gallium from free energy analysis. This information is crucial for understanding the behavior of the material under different pressure conditions and can be valuable for various applications, such as materials processing and high-pressure studies. The analysis, findings, and insights of the present work will be of great significance to the broad scientific and engineering communities in the field of phase transformation of materials.
Methods:
A series of molecular dynamics(MD) simulations were conducted using the LAMMPS software packages. The gallium atoms are modeled using the modified embedded atom method (MEAM) potential. To accurately predict the solid-liquid phase transitions of gallium, we calculated free energy by employing the "constrained λ integration" method, coupled with multiple histogram reweighting (MHR). The solid-liquid coexistence line is determined through the Gibbs-Duhem integration technique.
Related Concept Videos
Phase Transitions
Phase Transitions: Melting and Freezing
Phase Diagram
Phase Transitions: Sublimation and Deposition
Phase Diagrams
States of Matter and Phase Changes

