Equation of state of aluminum carbide Al4C3

Quasi-hydrostatic compression of aluminum carbide, Al4C3 has been studied to 6 GPa at room temperature using energy-dispersive X-ray powder diffraction with synchrotron radiation. A fit of the experimental p-V data to the Birch equation of state yields the values of the bulk modulus, B0, of 130(5) GPa and the first pressure derivative of the bulk modulus, B′0, of 4.6(9). The compression is found to be anisotropic, with the a-axis being more compressible than the c-axis.