“…Although there is still qualitative agreement between the data and the ionic model, the discrepancies are such that the exponential form used for the repulsive potential appears to become too hard (too large a second derivative, resulting in too high an average frequency) upon compression when compared with the observed properties. It is conceivable that slightly improved values could be found for the parameters in the crystal-independent potential models based on such a comparison [e.g., Sirdeshmukh and Rao, 1975]; however, the more fundamental assumption concerning the validity of an exponential repulsive (and in general, central forces) term, separable from the Coulomb term in the ionic potential, needs also to be addressed [see Hafemeister and Flygare, 1965;Hafemeister and Zahrt, 1967;Gilbert, 1968;Carlson, 1973;Davies, 1981].…”