Compression of Fe88.1Ni9.1S2.8 alloy up to the pressure of Earth's inner core

Fe88.1Ni9.1S2.8 alloy was compressed up to 335 GPa, corresponding to the pressure at the Earth's inner core, and the hexagonal close-packed structure was found to be stable. The axial (c/a) ratio gradually decreased with increasing pressure. A linear fit as a function of pressure gave c/a = 1.605(2)-6.1(9) x 10(-5)P for P in GPa. The compression curve of Fe88.1Ni9.1S2.8 alloy was expressed by the third-order Birch-Murnaghan equation of state, giving K-0 = 167.0 +/- 15.0 GPa, K-0' = 4.46 +/- 0.14, and V-0 = 22.93 +/- 0.29 angstrom(3). Our results indicate that the hcp Fe-5 wt % Ni-5.7 wt % S alloy can account for the density of the inner core at 328.9 GPa, assuming a linear relationship exists between the density and the nickel and sulfur content.