High pressure studies of a new ternary actinide compound, UV2Al20

Abstract A new uranium compound, UV 2 Al 20 , is reported. This CeCr 2 Al 20 -type structure compound ( a =14.4775(5) A) exhibits a large interatomic U-U distance, d u-u =6.34 A, well beyond the Hill limit. The morphology of this sample was examined by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). The susceptibility obeys the Curie–Weiss law in the temperature range of 80–300 K, with μ eff =2.3(3) μ B /f.u. No magnetic transitions were detected down to 1.7 K, as was supported by the electrical resistivity measurements. The X-ray analysis determined that V / V 0 =0.82 at 31.5 GPa with no crystallographic phase transition. The bulk modulus and the pressure derivative were derived as B 0 =40(5) GPa and B 0 ′=17(2), respectively.