Shock Melting Temperature of Initially Porous Iron and Indication for Melting Curve of Iron at High Pressures

The melting curve of iron is crucial for modelling of the earth’s internal heat structures and to understand melting of solids at high pressures. However, the measured melting temperatures of iron at high pressures are disparate so far. We measured the shocked interface (porous iron/sapphire window) temperatures of a kind of porous iron. By using a model for shock temperature measurement High Pressures Res. 2 (1990) 159 and the previous results of sound velocity measurements Chin. Phys. Lett. 18 (2001) 852, we determine the melting temperatures of iron at shock compression high pressures of 145 and 171GPa. They are consistent with the results reported by other shock compression experiments. Based on the possible different melting mechanisms of iron in diamond anvil cell and in shock compression, the corrected melting temperatures of iron at high pressures become more consistent.