Structure and Properties of Liquid Fe‐C Alloys at High Pressures by Experiments and First‐Principles Calculations

Abstract

It is believed that the core formation processes sequestered a large majority of Earth’s carbon into its metallic core. Incorporation of carbon to liquid iron may significantly influence its properties under physicochemical conditions pertinent to the deep magma ocean and thus the chemical evolution of terrestrial planets and moons. Compared to available experimental data on the physical properties of crystalline iron alloys under pressure, there is a remarkable lack of data on the properties of liquid iron‐rich alloys, due to experimental challenges. Here we review experimental and computational results on the structure and properties of iron or iron‐nickel liquids alloyed with carbon upon compression. These laboratory data provide an important foundation on which the interpretation of ultrahigh pressure laboratory data and the verification of theoretical data will have to be based. The low‐pressure data can be used to validate results from theoretical calculations at the same conditions, and high‐pressure calculations can be used to estimate and predict liquid properties under core conditions. Availability of the liquid properties of Fe‐C liquids will provide essential data for stringent tests of carbon‐rich core composition models for the outer core.