Papers

Peer-reviewed
Dec, 2016

Phase relations of Fe3C and Fe7C3 up to 185 GPa and 5200 K: Implication for the stability of iron carbide in the Earth's core

GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS
  • Jin Liu
  • ,
  • Jung-Fu Lin
  • ,
  • Vitali B. Prakapenka
  • ,
  • Clemens Prescher
  • ,
  • Takashi Yoshino

Volume
43
Number
24
First page
12415
Last page
12422
Language
English
Publishing type
Research paper (scientific journal)
DOI
10.1002/2016GL071353
Publisher
AMER GEOPHYSICAL UNION

We have investigated phase relations and melting behavior of Fe3C and Fe7C3 using X-ray diffraction in a laser-heated diamond cell up to 185 GPa and 5200 K. Our results show that the starting Fe3C sample decomposes into a mixture of solid orthorhombic Fe7C3 and hcp-Fe at above 145 GPa upon laser heating and then transforms into Fe-C liquid and solid Fe7C3 at temperatures above 3400 K. Using the intensity of the diffuse scattering as a primary criteria for detecting melting, the experimentally derived liquidus for a bulk composition of Fe3C fitted with the Simon-Glatzel equation is T-m(K) = 1800 x [1 + (P-m = 5.7)/15.10 +/- 2.55](1/2.41) (+/- 0.17) at 24-185 GPa, which is similar to 500 K higher than the melting curve of iron reported by Anzellini et al. (2013) at Earth's core pressures. The higher melting point and relative stability of Fe7C3 in Fe-rich Fe-C system at Earth's core conditions indicate that Fe7C3 could solidify out of the early Earth's molten core to become a constituent of the innermost inner core.

Link information
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL071353
Web of Science
https://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcAuth=JSTA_CEL&SrcApp=J_Gate_JST&DestLinkType=FullRecord&KeyUT=WOS:000392741900014&DestApp=WOS_CPL
URL
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?partnerID=HzOxMe3b&scp=85007504679&origin=inward
URL
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5422-7396
ID information
  • DOI : 10.1002/2016GL071353
  • ISSN : 0094-8276
  • eISSN : 1944-8007
  • ORCID - Put Code : 58517992
  • SCOPUS ID : 85007504679
  • Web of Science ID : WOS:000392741900014

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