High-pressure differential thermal analysis measurements of the melting curve of lithium

The pressure effect on the melting behavior of lithium has been measured by observing the latent heat signatures of melting and freezing using differential thermal analysis (DTA). Samples were repeatedly melted and recrystallized at selected pressures up to 15 GPa in a multianvil press. Despite the weak DTA signals due to small sample sizes at high pressure, the melting and freezing temperatures were clearly determined from the derivatives of the DTA traces. We measured a drop in the melting temperature between 9 and 12 GPa, yielding a maximum at 10(2) GPa and 245(2) degrees C. This work highlights both the successes and failures of recent theoretical models for the melting behavior of this and related systems. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.