Measurements of the melting point of graphite and the properties of liquid carbon (a review for 1963-2003)

Reliable experimental data for the graphite melting point are presented: enthalpy of solid state under melting (10.5 kJ/g); enthalpy of liquid state under melting (20.5 kJ/g); heat of graphite melting (10 kJ/g); liquid-carbon resistivity (730 μΩ cm) near the melting point at a density of 1.8 g/cm3 under high pressures (several GPa); estimation of expansion (70%) during melting at 100 MPa pressure; and melting temperature Tm = 4800 ± 100 K at a pressure 10-100 MPa. Most of these data are obtained by electrical fast heating (1-5 μs), that are supported by the data of carefully executed laser-pulse heating.