R. Brett 1967 <p>Cohenite is found almost exclusively in meteorites containing from 6 to 8 wt.% Ni. On the basis of phase diagrams and kinetic data it is proposed that cohenite cannot form in meteorites having more than 8 wt.% Ni and that any cohenite which formed in meteorites having Ni content lower than 6 wt.% decomposed during cooling.</p><p>A series of isothermal sections for the system Fe<img src="https://sdfestaticassets-us-east-1.sciencedirectassets.com/shared-assets/55/entities/sbnd.gif" alt="single bond" data-mce-src="https://sdfestaticassets-us-east-1.sciencedirectassets.com/shared-assets/55/entities/sbnd.gif">Ni<img src="https://sdfestaticassets-us-east-1.sciencedirectassets.com/shared-assets/55/entities/sbnd.gif" alt="single bond" data-mce-src="https://sdfestaticassets-us-east-1.sciencedirectassets.com/shared-assets/55/entities/sbnd.gif">C has been constructed between 750 and 600°C from published information on the three constitutent binary systems. The diagrams indicate that the presence of a few tenths of a per cent carbon in a Ni<img src="https://sdfestaticassets-us-east-1.sciencedirectassets.com/shared-assets/55/entities/sbnd.gif" alt="single bond" data-mce-src="https://sdfestaticassets-us-east-1.sciencedirectassets.com/shared-assets/55/entities/sbnd.gif">Fe alloy may reduce the temperature at which kamacite separates from taenite by more than 50°C. Hence C in iron meteorites may be partly responsible for the postulated supercooled nucleation of kamacite in meteorites proposed by recent authors. Cohenite found in meteorites probably formed over the temperature range 650-610°C. For compositions approximating those of metallic meteorites, the greater the C or Ni content of the alloy, the lower the temperature of formation of cohenite.</p><p>The presence of cohenite in meteorites indicates neither high nor low pressures of formation. However, the absence of cohenite in meteorites containing the assemblage metal + graphite requires low pressures during cooling. Such meteorites therefore cooled in parent bodies of asteroidal size, or near the surface of large bodies.</p> application/pdf 10.1016/S0016-7037(67)80042-5 en Elsevier Cohenite: Its occurrence and a proposed origin article