Elastic constants of borocarbides. New approach to acoustic Measurement technique

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel phase method using Nonius technique for precise acoustic measurements in small borocarbide samples, enabling accurate determination of elastic constants and Debye temperature.

Contribution

A new phase measurement approach with Nonius technique for accurate acoustic property determination in submillimeter borocarbide samples.

Findings

Achieved ~1% accuracy in sound velocity measurements.

Calculated elastic constants and Debye temperature for RNi2B2C compounds.

Validated the method's effectiveness for small crystal samples.

Abstract

A new version of the phase method of determining the sound velocity is proposed and implemented. It utilizes the ``Nonius'' measurement technique and can give acceptable accuracy (~1%) in samples of submillimeter size. Measurements of the sound velocity are made in single-crystal samples of the borocarbides RNi2B2C (R = Y,Lu,Ho). The elastic constants and the Debye temperature are calculated.