A study was made of the elastic properties, electronic structure and equation of state using a first-principles pseudopotential method. It was shown that the results of the calculations, carried out using the gradient-corrected approximation of density-functional theory, were in excellent agreement with the most recent experimental data. The predicted elastic properties of MgB2 were compared with contradictory experimental estimates of bulk and linear compressibilities.

Elastic Properties of TiB2 and MgB2. V.Milman, M.C.Warren: Journal of Physics - Condensed Matter, 2001, 13, 5585-95