  Whereas dhcp La superconducts at ambient pressure with Tc = 5 K, the other
trivalent d-electron metals Sc, Y, and Lu only superconduct if high pressures
are applied. Earlier measurements of the pressure dependence of Tc for Sc and
Lu metal are here extended to much higher pressures. Whereas Tc for Lu
increases monotonically with pressure to 12.4 K at 174 GPa (1.74 Mbar). Tc for
Sc reaches 19.6 K at 107 GPa, the 2nd highest value observed for any elemental
superconductor. At higher pressures a phase transition occurs whereupon Tc
drops to 8.31 K at 111 GPa. The Tc(P) dependences for Sc and Lu are compared to
those of Y and La. An interesting correlation is pointed out between the value
of Tc and the fractional free volume available to the conduction electrons
outside the ion cores, a quantity which is directly related to the number of d
electrons in the conduction band.
