A material's latent heat models large changes in internal energy during phase change of the material. The latent heat is assumed to be released over a range of temperatures from a lower (solidus) temperature to an upper (liquidus) temperature.
If the phase change occurs within a known temperature range, you can enter the solidus and liquidus temperatures directly in the Edit Material dialog box. Otherwise you must model the effect with a user subroutine. See “Latent heat,” Section 20.2.4 of the ABAQUS Analysis User's Manual, for more information.
To specify latent heat data:
From the menu bar in the Edit Material dialog box, select Thermal
Latent Heat.
(For information on displaying the Edit Material dialog box, see “Creating or editing a material,” Section 12.6.1.)
Enter the following data in the Data table:
Latent Heat
Latent heat per unit mass. (Units of JM–1.)
Solidus Temp
Low end of the temperature range within which the phase changes occurs.
Liquidus Temp
High end of the temperature range within which the phase changes occurs.
Click OK to close the Edit Material dialog box. Alternatively, you can select another material behavior to define from the menus in the Edit Material dialog box (see “Browsing and modifying material behaviors,” Section 12.6.2, for more information).