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′, of 4.4±0.5. The compression is found to be anisotropic, with the a-axis being more incompressible than the c-axis.