  A comprehensive, critical study of the vibrational, thermodynamic and
thermoelastic properties of bcc iron is presented, using well established
semi-empirical embedded-atom method potentials available in the literature.
Classical molecular dynamics simulations are used to address temperature
effects, where dynamical matrices are constructed as a time average of the
second moment of the atomic displacements. The $C_{11}, C_{44}, C'$ elastic
constants are then obtained from the sound velocities along high symmetry
directions in reciprocal space. Results are compared to ultrasonic measurements
and highlight the limitations of the potentials considered here in describing
thermoelastic properties.
