Equation of state and structural phase transition in FeBO3 at high pressure

The evolution of X-ray diffraction patterns in FeBO3 under high pressures up to 63 GPa has been investigated at room temperature in a diamond anvil cell. A structural phase transition at a pressure of 53 +/- 2 GPa was found for the first time. The transition is of the first-order type with a hysteresisless drop of the reduced unit cell volume of about 8.6%. Apparently, the transition is isostructural. At pressures below the transition, the equation of state for FeBO3 was fitted. In the third-order approximation of the Birch-Murnagan equation of state, the bulk modulus K and its first pressure derivative K' were found to be 255 +/- 25 GPa and 5.0 +/- 1.2, respectively. (C) 2002 MAIK Nauka / Interperiodica.