Thermodynamic properties and structural phase transition of cerium under high pressure

The pressure effects on thermodynamic properties as well as the structural phase transition of the rare-earth metal cerium have been investigated by using the statistical moment method in quantum statistical mechanics. The analytical expressions of Helmholtz free energy, thermal expansion coefficient, and bulk modulus of α-Ce have been derived. Numerical calculations of these above thermodynamic quantities give good and reasonable results comparing to experiments as well as other theoretical works. This research also proposes the efficiency of the statistical moment method for determining the relative change of the phase transition temperature of the process γ-Ce → δ-Ce under pressure.