Synchrotron X-ray Study of Iron at High Pressure and Temperature

Science. 1995 Sep 22;269(5231):1703-4. doi: 10.1126/science.269.5231.1703.

Abstract

X-ray synchrotron experiments with in situ laser heating of iron in a diamond-anvil cell show that the high-pressure epsilon phase, a hexagonal close-packed (hcp) structure, transforms to another phase (possibly a polytype double-layer hcp) at a pressure of about 38 gigapascals and at temperatures between 1200 and 1500 kelvin. This information has implications for the phase relations of iron in Earth's core.