# Melting curve of elemental zirconium

## TL;DR

This study presents the first in-situ measurement of zirconium's melting curve up to 80 GPa and 4000 K using fast x-ray diffraction, demonstrating LDS as a reliable melt detection method.

## Contribution

First in-situ determination of zirconium melting curve at high pressures and temperatures using XRD and LDS diagnostics.

## Key findings

- Melting curve of zirconium determined up to 80 GPa and 4000 K.
- LDS proven as a reliable melting diagnostic.
- Other criteria like temperature plateaus discussed.

## Abstract

Melting experiments require rapid data acquisition due to instabilities of the molten sample and optical drifting due to the high required laser power. In this work, the melting curve of zirconium has been determined for the first time up to 80 GPa and 4000 K using in-situ fast x-ray diffraction (XRD) in a laser-heated diamond anvil cell (LH-DAC). The main method used for melt detection was the direct observance of liquid diffuse scattering (LDS) in the XRD patterns and it has been proven to be a reliable melting diagnostic. The effectiveness of other melting criteria such as the appearance temperature plateaus with increasing laser power is also discussed.