Experimental measurement of the elastic constants of GdScO3 via resonant ultrasound spectroscopy utilizing ab initio calculations

The complete elastic tensor of single crystal GdScO3 was determined using resonant ultrasound spectroscopy (RUS) in combination with ab initio calculations. The experimental determination of all nine elastic constants also provides a method for probing the dynamic lattice properties for this recently developed orthorhombic material. The experimentally determined elastic constants differed from theoretical values on average by 10%, and all but three of the nine elastic constants varied by less than 10%. These results indicate that ab initio calculations are now sufficiently accurate for the precise determination of the elastic tensor using RUS as the sole experimental source. (c) 2008 American Institute of Physics.