Melting of bcc transition metals and icosahedral clustering

In contrast to polyvalent metals, transition metals have low melting slopes (dT/dP) that are due to partially filled d-bands that allow for a lowering of liquid phase energy through s–d electron transfer and the formation of local structures. In the case of bcc transition metals, we show that the apparent discrepancy of diamond-anvil cells (DAC) melting measurements with shock melting of Mo can be understood by reexamining the shock data for V and Ta and introducing the presence of an icosahedral short range order (ISRO) melt phase.