On thermodynamic properties of crystals in the metastable region

The possibility of superheating crystals has been firmly established but experimental investigations of their metastable states present great difficulties. We have undertaken a theoretical study of their thermodynamic properties near the limit of stability. Using the correlative method of unsymmetrized self-consistent field, we have explored the properties of Van der Waals crystals with the face-centered cubic lattice. The exponents governing their peculiarities in the vicinity of the unstable point have been evaluated and discussed. © 1994.