Experimental constraints on the sound velocities of cementite Fe3C to core pressures

Chen, Bin; Lai, Xiaojing; Li, Jie; Liu, Jiachao; Zhao, Jiyong; Bi, Wenli; Alp, E. Ercan; Hu, Michael Y.; Xiao, Yuming

doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2018.05.002

Title: Experimental constraints on the sound velocities of cementite Fe₃C to core pressures

Journal Article · Thu May 17 00:00:00 EDT 2018 · Earth and Planetary Science Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2018.05.002· OSTI ID:1462754

^[1]; Lai, Xiaojing ^[1];

^[2]; Liu, Jiachao ^[2]; Zhao, Jiyong ^[3]; Bi, Wenli ^[3]; Alp, E. Ercan ^[3];

^[3]; Xiao, Yuming ^[4]

Univ. of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI (United States)
Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)
Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Carnegie Institution of Washington, Argonne, IL (United States)

Sound velocities of cementite Fe₃C have been measured up to 1.5 Mbar and at 300 K in a diamond anvil cell using the nuclear resonant inelastic X-ray scattering (NRIXS) technique. From the partial phonon density of states (pDOS) and equation of state (EOS) of Fe₃C, we derived its elastic parameters including shear modulus, compressional (V-p) and shear-wave (V-s) velocities to core pressures. A pressure-induced spin-pairing transition in the powdered Fe3C sample was found to occur gradually between 10 and 50 GPa by the X-ray Emission Spectroscopy (XES) measurements. Following the completion of the spin-pairing transition, the V_p and V_s of low-spin Fe₃C increased with pressure at a markedly lower rate than its high-spin counterpart. Our results suggest that the incorporation of carbon in solid iron to form iron carbide phases, Fe₃C and Fe₇C₃, could effectively lower the V_s but respectively raise the Poisson's ratio by 0.05 and 0.07 to approach the seismically observed values for the Earth's inner core. In conclusion, the comparison with the preliminary reference Earth model (PREM) implies that an inner core composition containing iron and its carbon-rich alloys can satisfactorily explain the observed seismic properties of the inner core.

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Research Organization:: Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-06CH11357; FG02-94ER14466; NA0001974; AC02–06CH11357; FG02-99ER45775

OSTI ID:: 1462754

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1548200

Journal Information:: Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Vol. 494, Issue C; ISSN 0012-821X

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 23 works

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