Debye Temperature and Elastic Constants of Geophysical Minerals: Theoretical Prediction

Abstract

With a better understanding of mechanical and thermal properties such as ductility, brittleness, and Debye temperature, technological applications of the materials can be explored up to the desired accuracy limit. The ratio K/G is used to determine whether solids are ductile or brittle in terms of fracture resistance (K) and plastic deformation (G). The state of ductility and brittleness was evaluated in this study using measured K/G values for the geophysical minerals MgO and CaO, which are in good agreement with the corresponding experimental values. We also calculated the Debye temperature ( ) for the selected samples using average sound velocity obtained from the values of fracture resistance (K) and plastic deformation (G). Both minerals are brittle, and the measured Debye temperatures are in good agreement with the corresponding experimental values. As a result, it can be inferred that the existence and Debye temperature of geophysical minerals can be predicted using only their elastic stiffness constant up to high temperatures.