Measurement of the electrical resistivity of hot aluminum passing from the liquid to gaseous state at supercritical pressure

Thin aluminum foil strips tamped by polished glass plates were rapidly heated by means of a pulse current. The experimental technique has ensured a sufficiently homogeneous heating of the foil samples during continuous expansion from the liquid to gaseous state at a pressure of 7--60 kbar. Results on the electrical resistivity of aluminum were obtained in a density range extending from about the normal solid density down to a density 30 times less and in a temperature range from 6000 to 50 000 K. A dielectriclike dependence of the resistivity on temperature along isochore was observed at a density, which is 4 times less than the normal solid density. A maximum in the temperature dependence of the resistivity was detected along an isochore corresponding to a density that is 5.4 times less than the normal solid density. Present results confirm recent theoretical predictions based on finite-temperature density-functional theory about the behavior of the electrical resistivity of aluminum in the liquid and gaseous state.