Predicting phase transition pressure in solids:a semiclasical possibility

This is a short review of the physical ideas,algorithm for the calculation of the phase transition pressure and some results of a semi-classical theory of the behaviour of materials under high pressure proposed by P.Savic and R.Kasanin.It is base on the Coulomb interaction,supplemented by a microscopic selection rule and a set of experimentally founded postulates,and it has found applications from DAC experiments to planetary structure modelling.