Is there a substance that remains liquid over a wide range of pressure?

January 19, 2021 7:02 AM

Is there any substance which will neither crystallized nor vitrify nor boil at all of the following temperature and pressure regimes, and which is neither extremely toxic nor highly corrosive to metals? 80kPa @ 277K, 100kPa @ 238K - 310K, 700MPa @ 238K - 330K, 2.3GPa @ 330K - 360K

I need to apply rapidly increasing uniform pressure to a large (greater than 10mm³) sample, then chill the sample to below 251K while slowly reducing the pressure. I need to avoiding excessive adiabatic heating in order to stay within an approximate 60K temperature range, and I need to minimize mechanical forces on the sample.

posted by pjbw to Science & Nature (4 answers total)

Best answer: It's possible more detail on what you're trying to do may get better answers. I may be missing something but I think a low-temp hydraulic oil might work. Eg "wide application temperature range of -110°F (-78°C) to 300°F (148°C)." on this stuff. It's designed for high pressures of hydraulic systems, but I don't know what they rate in GPa. On the low end, .79 atm doesn't seem that low for a synthetic oil. Better oil suppliers offer more detailed specs on temp and pressure, and unless synthetic oils are ruled out for some reason, I think one of them will fit your criteria.
posted by SaltySalticid at 7:31 AM on January 19, 2021

more detail on what you're trying to do

Yes, I am certainly not a physicist or anything close, and I have absolutely zero answers, but I would just love to know what you are doing, in lay terms! I just love seeing what Mefites are up to around here, and chime in when I can, but whatever you are doing sounds really interesting!

Edited to add: I just like learning about what y'all are up to!
posted by Snowishberlin at 2:54 PM on January 19, 2021

You aren't a time traveler by any chance, are you? ;^)

This and your more recent question are reminding me of the “transparent aluminum” scene in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, wherein people from the 23^rd century are stuck in the 20^th century without thorough historical records and can't remember the precise state of technology in the time period they're in, so must request things by describing physical properties.
posted by XMLicious at 5:12 PM on January 19, 2021 [5 favorites]

Manufacturing solid deuterium on an industrial scale?
posted by thatwhichfalls at 5:36 PM on January 19, 2021