High pressure X-ray diffraction study of Fe2B

We report the results of a synchrotron based X-ray diffraction study of bct-Fe2B under quasi-hydrostatic conditions from 0 to 50 GPa. Over this pressure range, no phase change or disproportionation has been observed. A weighted fit of the data to the Birch-Murnaghan equation of state yields a value of the bulk modulus, K, of 164 +/- 14 GPa and the first pressure derivative of the bulk modulus, K-1, of 4.4 +/- 0.5. The compression is found to be anisotropic, with the a-axis being more incompressible than the c-axis. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved