MELTING OF CRYSTALS

A two-stage mechanism of crystal melting is considered. First, a crystal is divided into individual grains by a thin layer of the liquid phase. At the second stage, these grains melt. The results obtained for this model of melting are compared with available experimental data to verify the validity of the proposed mechanism of the melting process. The calculated time of crystal separation into grains, the temperature range of premelting effects, and the width of the liquid layer propagating into the bulk of a copper crystal coincide with corresponding experimental data for bismuth and zinc crystals.