Semi-empirical estimation of thermal expansion coefficients of oxides

The thermal expansion coefficients of oxides have been estimated and analyzed using Ruffa's method by reevaluating the parameter used. The Morse potential and the Debye model have been used to evaluate the thermal expansion coefficient and the parameters of the Morse potential have been determined empirically. The Born repulsion parameter of oxides, which is necessary for determining the parameter of the Morse potential, has been determined empirically for metal atoms of oxides belonging to every period of the periodic table and the thermal expansion coefficients of various oxides at a wide range of temperatures have been calculated. The calculated thermal expansion coefficients thus obtained are in excellent agreement with the experimental ones except for the anomalous thermal expansion behaviors due to vacancy formation and phase transitions.