EFFECT OF LOW-TEMPERATURE PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS ON ELASTIC BEHAVIOR OF CERIUM

The temperature dependence of the elastic moduli, adiabatic compressibility, and Debye temperatures of high-purity polycrystalline cerium metal during cooling and warming has been determined in the range between liquid-helium and room temperature. The variation of these properties in the vicinity of the low-temperature phase transformations of cerium is discussed. A sharp minimum in the elastic properties, which is generally indicative of a magnetic ordering transition, was observed at 31°K, and not at about 13°K as was reported from measurements of other physical properties. © 1969 The American Physical Society.