Ab initio evaluations of the He solubility in liquid Li

Modified embedding atom methods (MEAM) are developed to have predictions of the partial molar heat of solution (-Hs) by direct simulation of metal cohesion, He-metal and He-He interaction. Transitions from crystalline Li to configurations, having the liquid Li structure's factors (h-bar (q)), are simulated ab initio. Once h-bar (q) reproduced, He atoms are added, one by one, to the Li system. Parallel lines for each case, with slopes clearly independent on the number of He atoms in the system, are obtained for energy versus pressure at given temperatures. Average differences between two adjacent parallels at zero pressure, once kinetic energy of the system discounted, represents the energy gained by an He atom when added to the Li system, related to the solution energy -Hs. The molar excess entropy of gas in solution (S-bar lex) is previously evaluated following diverse fundamental approaches: a 'thermodynamic liquid-hole' (TL-H) model for alkali liquids and a statistical-mechanics (Neff and McQuarrie's) model (SMM). Between 600 and 900 deg. C, a typical range of interest for the use of Li in fusion technology, the computed values for the (He) Henry's constant in Li range from 8x10-14 to 10-13 at. fr. Pa-1