Melting of transition metals at high pressure and the influence of liquid frustration: The late metals Cu, Ni, and Fe

This report focuses on the role that frustration, or preferred liquid local ordering, plays in the melting of transition metals, specifically, Cu, Ni, and Fe. It is proposed that for liquids of metals with partially filled d bands (Ni and Fe) Peierls--Jahn-Teller distortions provide a mechanism for creating local structures, which at the most elementary level are impurities that lower the freezing point. The application of pressure enhances frustration and leads to melting slopes measured experimentally for Ni and Fe that are considerably lower than measured for Cu, and lower than theoretical predictions employing models in which liquid structures are neglected.