Equation of state of sodium chloride up to 32 kbar and 500°C†☆

Abstract The length change of a 25mm long single crystal of NaCl has been determined as a function of hydrostatic pressure up to 32 kbar and temperatures up to 500°C using an electrical contact piezometer with tungsten carbide as a standard. The measurements were carried out in an end loaded piston cylinder apparatus. The length change of the tungsten carbide standard is small compared to that of NaCl and therefore reliable data are obtained. Compression data by Bridgman[1] and thermal expansion data by Kennametal Inc. were used for the equation of state of tungsten carbide. We estimated an absolute uncertainty in the length change measurement of NaCl of ±0.7%. The temperature was accurate within 0.3°C. The uncertainty in pressure is ±0.4%. The results are compared with Decker's [2] equation of state which is frequently used when NaCl is taken as a standard in high pressure work. At room temperature we find a smaller compression of NaCl than Decker and find excellent agreement with Bridgman's[3] data. At higher temperatures we find very good agreement between our data and Decker's equation of state.