crystals Review A Review of the Melting Curves of Transition Metals at High Pressures Using Static Compression Techniques Paraskevas Parisiades CNRS UMR 7590, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Institut de Minéralogie de Physique des Matériaux et de Cosmochimie, Sorbonne Université, 4 Place Jussieu, F-75005 Paris, France;
[email protected] Abstract: The accurate determination of melting curves for transition metals is an intense topic within high pressure research, both because of the technical challenges included as well as the controversial data obtained from various experiments. This review presents the main static techniques that are used for melting studies, with a strong focus on the diamond anvil cell; it also explores the state of the art of melting detection methods and analyzes the major reasons for discrepancies in the determination of the melting curves of transition metals. The physics of the melting transition is also discussed. Keywords: melting curves; laser-heated diamond anvil cell; extreme conditions; synchrotron radia- tion; transition metals; phase transitions 1. Introduction Transition metals are defined as those elements that have a partially filled d-electron Citation: Parisiades, P. A Review of sub-shell. The strong metallic bonding due to the delocalization of d-orbitals is responsible the Melting Curves of Transition for a series of very interesting properties, such as high yield strength, corrosion and Metals at High Pressures Using Static wear resistance, good ductility, easy alloy and metallic glass formation, paramagnetism, Compression Techniques. Crystals 2021, 11, 416. https://doi.org// and high melting points and molar enthalpies of fusion, leading to a plethora of industrial 10.3390cryst11040416 applications [1–6].