Defects induced melting in alkali halides

Abstract

In the present paper we study the pressure dependence of melting of NaCl and CsCl crystals. A formulation has been presented for the pressure dependence of melting temperature on the basis of the vacancy model using the expression for the pressure dependence of the volume of Schottky defects from the Roy–Roy equation of state. Values of pressure derivatives of melting temperature have been calculated at elevated pressures to determine the rate of change of melting temperature with increase in pressures using the data of vacancy formation energy and effective volume of Schottky defects. The vacancy model revised in the present study takes into account the variation of bulk modulus with pressure, whereas in the Ksiazek and Gorecki model, it was treated constant. Results for pressure derivative of melting temperature are calculated for the solids under study. The melting curves have also been obtained and found to compare well with results based on molecular dynamics simulation and experimental data reported in recent literature.