Volume and structural behavior of UP and USb up to 25 GPa

Abstract
X-ray powder diffraction patterns for UP and USb have been obtained up to 25 GPa in a diamond-anvil cell. An account of the uniaxial stress components is revealed to be essential for UP to determine reliable volume variations. UP maintains its NaCl-type structure while USb undergoes a phase transformation at 8 GPa towards a cubic CsCl-type structure. The experimental bulk moduli at normal pressure of UP and USb are, respectively, equal to 102 and 72.7 GPa, and their first pressure derivatives are equal to 4.7 and 2. For uranium monopnictides the initial bulk modulus is directly proportional to the -(5/3) power of the volume.

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