Atomistic Modeling of the Negative Thermal Expansion in δ-Plutonium Based on the Two-State Description

The δ phase of plutonium with the fcc structure exhibits an unusual negative thermal expansion (NTE) over its narrow temperature range of stability, 593–736 K. An accurate description of the anomalous high-temperature volume effect of plutonium goes beyond the current capability of electronic-structure calculations. We propose an atomistic scheme to model the thermodynamic properties of δ-Pu based on the two-state model of Weiss for the Invar alloys, inspired by the simple free-energy analysis previously conducted by Lawson et al. The two-state mechanism is incorporated into the atomistic description of a many-body interacting system. Two modified embedded atom method potentials are employed to represent the binding energies of two competing electronic states in δ-Pu. We demonstrate how the NTE takes place in δ-Pu by means of Monte Carlo simulations implemented with the two-state mechanism.