Eur. Phys. J. B 12, 235-240 (1999)
https://doi.org/10.1007/s100510051000

The velocity of sound and compressibility in the melts of Hg-Te system

Department of Physics, Faculty of Sciences, Niigata University, Ikarashi 2-8050, Niigata 950-2181, Japan

Corresponding author: ^a yoshimi@rlxjksl2.sc.niigata-u.ac.jp

Received: 2 September 1998
Revised: 16 March 1999
Published online: 15 November 1999

Abstract

Liquid Hg-Te system has been investigated as a function of composition and temperature by measuring the velocity of sound. A minimum in the sound velocity as a function of temperature observed for Te persists up to 50 at.% Hg, of which the position increases rather steeply between 20 and 30 at.% Hg. This suggests that the molten HgTe and alloys in the Te-rich side undergo structural changes involving the change in coordination number with increasing temperature, and the crossover of the nature of the chemical bond from p-p σ to sp³ covalent bond takes place with changing composition. It is concluded that the structural change in liquid HgTe is due to intrinsic nature of bonding of HgTe as a compound.