Pressure-concentration (P-X) diagram for the Ce-Th alloy system

Pressure is an important variable in the phase stability of rare earth and actinide metals and alloys. This is largely due to the enormous change of the f-electron character induced by high pressure. Under high pressure, the increased f-electron overlap and interactions between the f-electrons and the spd conduction electrons are the main causes of the change of f-electron behavior and the relevant phase transformations. Diamond anvil cell techniques now allow for pressures over 300 GPa and this has given new impetus to the field of structural phase transformations. In this paper, the authors report their high pressure measurements on a series of Ce1-xThx alloys performed at ambient temperature in a diamond anvil cell using synchrotron x-ray source. In particular, the authors focus their attention on the γ(fcc) to α(fcc) and α to bct (body centered tetragonal) phase transformations caused by application of high pressure. The data is combined with the earlier measurements to construct a P-X diagram for the Ce-Th Alloy system