ANOMALOUS COMPRESSION IN UAL3 - AN EXPERIMENTAL AND COMPUTATIONAL STUDY

High-pressure x-ray diffraction experiments were performed on UAl3 up to 23 GPa. Anomalous compressibility behaviour of the system was obser ved in the pressure range 7-14 GPa. The experiments are compared with similar observations in UGa3, UIn3, UGe3 and USn3. Band structure calc ulations have been performed to look for a possible explanation of thi s behaviour through the concept of electron transfer from the f to the d orbitals.