The structure of molten salts.

A short review is given of the theoretical and technological importance of molten salts. The structure of several molten salts has been studied using. Neutron diffraction and the equipment used to carry out neutron diffraction experiment at a high temperature is described. Total structure factors have been obtained for the molten forms of KC1, CaCl2 and TiCl4, and the limited structure information revealed by the Fourier transform of these data is discussed in terms of earlier work on these and similar systems. More detailed information may be obtained by using the technique of isotopic substitution in order to obtain partial structure factors. The difficulties in extracting partial structure factors for such experiment mean that a direct method is unlikely to be possible and the algorithm which was developed to enable a solution to be found is described. Partial structure factors have been obtained for molten NaCl at 875°C and 1075°C, and also for molten BaCl2 at 1025°C. The relationship between the present work and earlier theoretical studies is discussed.