Technically speaking the F# function Unchecked.defaultof<'a> is an equivalent to the default operator in C#. However, I think it is worth noting that defaultof is considered as an unsafe thing in F# and should be used only when it is really necessary (just like using null, which is also discouraged in F#).
In most situations, you can avoid the need for defaultof by using the option<'a> type. It allows you to represent the fact that a value is not available yet.
However, here is a brief example to demonstrate the idea. The following C# code:
T temp = default(T);
// Code that may call: temp = foo()
if (temp == default(T)) temp = bar(arg)
return temp;
Would be probably written like this in F# (using imperative features):
let temp = ref None
// Code that may call: temp := Some(foo())
match !temp with
| None -> bar(arg)
| Some(temp) -> temp
Of course this depends on your specific scenario and in some cases defaultof is the only thing you can do. However, I just wanted to point out that defaultof is used less frequently in F#.