Stepwise shock compression of C70 fullerene Original Research Article

Shock-induced phase transitions of C70 fullerene are experimentally studied up to a pressure of 36 GPa and a temperature of 1200 K. Pressure–temperature histories of C70 specimens are estimated and overlaid on the tentative phase diagram of C70. The crystalline phase of fullerene C70 with a hexagonal close-packed structure remained practically unchanged under stepwise shock compression up to а pressure of 8 GPa. Contrariwise the crystalline phase of fullerene C70 with a rhombohedral structure fully converted to the phase with a cubic structure under similar conditions. Shock-induced transformation of the hexagonal phase into the face-centered cubic phase was observed at pressures in the range of 9–19 GPa. The amount of transformed material increases with the shock intensity. Upon further increase in the shock pressure, the destruction of C70 molecules begins. In the sample recovered from 26 GPa, we observed the traces of C70 with a face centered cubic structure only. The destruction of C70 is accompanied by formation of graphitic carbon.