Effects of magnetic order on elastic moduli of chromium

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Abstract
The bulk modulus, B, and the shear moduli, C and C', of a single crystal of chromium at and above 290K have been determined by the pulse-echo overlap method. The upper limit of the temperature range was 550, 440 and 390K for B, C and C', respectively. In agreement with other recent results, B increases from a minimum at the Neel point to a maximum at about 520K. Extrapolation from between 530 and 550K yields a value of 2.01 Mbar for the bulk modulus of paramagnetic chromium at 293K, which agrees well with other estimates of this quantity. The transition anomaly was found to be rather small in C' and barely observable in C. In the case of C' it revealed a weak but clear fine structure of the form of two successive steps. This is tentatively attributed to stresses associated with the transition. A discussion of some features of the anomalies in the moduli is presented in terms of crystallographic thermodynamics of magnetostriction.