  Thanks to recent measurements of tidal deformability and radius, the nuclear
equation of state and structure of neutron stars are now better understood.
Here, we show that through resonant tidal excitations in a binary inspiral, the
neutron crust generically undergoes elastic-to-plastic transition, which leads
to crust heating and eventually meltdown. This process could induce $\sim
\mathcal{O}(0.1)$ phase shift in the gravitational waveform. Detecting the
timing and induced phase shift of this crust meltdown will shed light on the
crust structure, such as the core-crust transition density, which previous
measurements are insensitive to. A direct search using GW170817 data has not
found this signal, possibly due to limited signal-to-noise ratio. We predict
that such signal may be observable with Advanced LIGO Plus and more likely with
third-generation gravitational-wave detectors such as the Einstein Telescope
and Cosmic Explorer.
