Thermophysical Properties of Vanadium Melts and Discussion of Thermal Diffusivity in Mott’s Theory

The temperature dependence of density, normal spectral emissivity, heat capacity at constant pressure, and thermal conductivity of the V melt were measured with high accuracy using electromagnetic levitation in a static magnetic field. Surface vibration, translational motion, and convection of the electromagnetically levitated droplet sample were suppressed by the magnetic field. In the measurement of thermal conductivity, convection in the V-melt was sufficiently suppressed by the application of a field of 7 T or higher. In this study, the measured emissivity and thermal conductivity are compared with those evaluated using the free-electron models (Drude model and Wiedemann–Franz rule). Correlations between the density of states and thermal diffusivity at the Fermi energy of transition metals in the liquid state are investigated and the applicability of Mott's s–d scattering model is discussed.