Determination of the structure of UFe 2Al 10 compound

Abstract

The atomic structure of a new ternary phase UFe 2Al 10 appearing in the U–Fe–Al system was determined using direct methods applied to X-ray powder diffraction data. High resolution electron microscopy combined with the methods of crystallographic image processing was used for the verification of the structural model. The UFe 2Al 10 phase is orthorhombic and belongs to Cmcm space group, its unit cell contains 40 Al, eight Fe, and four U atoms. The lattice parameters obtained after Rietveld refinement are: a=8.919 Å, b=10.208 Å, and c=9.018 Å. The reliability factors characterizing the Rietveld refinement procedure are: R p=5.9%, R wp=8.1%, and R b=2.9%.