The utility of ultra-high-temperature (2100 °C) X-ray powder diffraction technique for investigating the high-temperature phase relationships of two pseudobinary mixtures, Al2O3/Y2O3 and AlN/SiO2, is described. The in situ analysis to 1600 °C was carried out using a platinum holder and a Pt/Rh thermocouple; whereas analysis beyond 1600 °C was performed with a tungsten holder, extremely pure, oxygen-free inert gas environment, and an opticalpyrometer to monitor temperatures up to 2100 °C. The solid-state interaction between Al2O3 and Y2O3 commenced with the formation of Al2Y4O9 (YAM), a yttria rich compound, at 1300 °C followed by AlYO3 (YAP) and Al5Y3O12 (YAG) at 1400 °C. Further heating to 1500 °C and above resulted in the increased concentration of YAG at the expense of the other two phases, followed by melting of the entire sample at 2050 °C. The only phase formed during cooling (from the molten state) was YAG. AlN and SiO2 did not react with each other, in an inert atmosphere, and they remained as separate, discrete phases even at 1600 °C. In the presence of oxygen, they reacted to form mullite and cristobalite, or SIALON depending on the partial pressure of oxygen.

Numerous spurious X-ray peaks were encountered during grazing incidence angle diffractometer scans of ceramic and polymeric thin films on crystalline and amorphous substrate materials. At least three possible sources of spurious peaks are identified. (1) At (2θ) values greater than ∼ 10°, Laue reflections from characteristic and Bremsstrahlung continuum radiation produce spurious peaks with a (2θ) dependence on X-ray incident angle and sample orientation. At (2θ) values less than 10°, (2) specular X-ray reflection from a boundary between two media of different indices of refraction and (3) diffuse surface scattering produces spurious peaks with a dependence on X-ray incident angle and sample surface topography. From an understanding of the spurious peaks, improved experimental techniques may be developed. Because these peaks can interfere significantly with grazing incidence diffractometer scans, it is particularly important to those making studies of thin films by this asymmetric diffraction geometry to be aware of the existence and origins of these spurious peaks.

Use of the overlap integral in X-ray diffraction (XRD) powder pattern recognition of crystalline materials is presented. The mathematical expression, derived specifically for diffraction data, provides a measure of similarity between two patterns. Each pattern is represented by a normalized mathematical function. The index of similarity, or overlap integral, indicates how faithfully the two functions overlap and ranges from zero to unity, reaching the latter limit when the two patterns become identical.

The intensity round-robin is one of a series of round-robins sponsored by the International Centre for Diffraction Data. The purpose of these round-robins is to attempt to quantify problems encountered in the acquisition, analysis and interpretation of powder diffraction data. Previous International Centre sponsored round-robins have addressed topics including: manual and automated search match methods; sample preparation methods; d-spacing accuracy; cell parameter refinement and peak profile calibration.

The primary focus of the intensity round-robin was to study measured intensities obtained from modern computer controlled powder diffractometers. However, the tests were designed in such a way as to also yield information on the performance of data treatment software packages. To this end, participants were asked to submit both raw and treated data, thus allowing evaluation of, for example, the efficiency of peak hunting algorithms in finding peaks.

The Reference Intensity Ratio (RIR) is a general, instrument-independent constant for use in quantitative phase analysis by the X-ray powder diffraction internal standard method. When the reference standard is corundum, RIR is known as I/Ic; These constants are collected in the Powder Diffraction File (1987), can be calculated, and can be measured. Recommended methods for accurate measurement of RIR constants are presented, and methods of using these constants for quantitative analysis are discussed. The numerous, complex constants in Copeland and Bragg's method introduced to account for superimposed lines can be simply expressed in terms of RIR constants and relative intensities. This formalism also permits introduction of constraints and supplemental equations based on elemental analysis.

Crystal and X-ray powder diffraction data are presented for BaPbO3. The powder pattern was indexed and refined on an orthorhombic cell with a=6.0264(3)Å , b=8.5078(3)Å , c=6.0629(2)Å, Z=4, space group Imma. The phase may actually be monoclinic with space group I2/m, but no distortion from the orthorhombic cell was evident in the powder patterns, suggesting a β angle very close to 90.0°.

As is well known from literature, the grinding process, which is an unavoidable step in sample preparation, may strongly modify the physical properties of chrysotile through amorphisation. The aim of this work is to establish the proper milling time to apply to the samples before an accurate X-ray powder diffraction quantitative analysis. We have used the RIR (reference intensity ratio) analytical method, based on the measurement of the ratio I/Is between the intensity of the strongest line of an analyte and the intensity of the analytical peak of a standard material, when they are thoroughly mixed 50:50 by weight. We have studied how the RIR value changes as a function of the milling time of the sample and how the accuracy of this quantitative method is affected.

The intensity diffracted by a low-mass sample with negligible absorption may be expressed as It = I∞ (B/2μ*)/G, where I∞ = intensity diffracted by a bulk sample, B = cross section of the primary beam, μ* = mass absorption coefficient, and G = mass of the sample. Measurable intensity may be obtained from samples with less than 1 μg mass. In order to improve the limit of detection, the primary beam should be collimated so as to irradiate the sample and only a minimum volume of the sample support. The optimum spreading area of a low-mass sample is S sinθ≅10μ*. Comminution of low-mass samples to 1 — 2μm particles is adequate for reasonable intensity measurements.

A study has been conducted with gibbsite specimens, on the use of Rietveld X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD) pattern fitting for quantitating preferred orientation in powders. This study has shown that an earlier formula gives results which correlate closely with an empirical measure of morphology proposed recently for gibbsite powders, viz., the ratio of the XRPD intensities for the (002) line and the (110, 200) doublet lines. A method is proposed on the basis of this correlation for the correction for preferred orientation of line intensities in gibbsite powder patterns. The correction method appears to have excellent potential for XRPD quantification of gibbsite levels in mixtures, and could have general application for coping with preferred orientation effects in the quantitation of other phases.

The crystal structure of La1−xSrxCoO3−δ (0≤x≤0.6) has been studied, using powder X-Ray diffraction. The crystal structure shows a transition from rhombohedral distorted perovskite for LaCoO3−δ into cubic perovskite for La0.4Sr0.6CoO3−δ. The cubic unit cell parameter is ac=3.8342(1) Å for La0.4Sr0.6CoO3−δ, the space group probably being Pm3m. Using a hexagonal setting, the cell parameters for La0.5Sr0.5CoO3−δ, are a=5.4300(3) Å, c=13.2516(10) Å; a=5.4375(1) Å, c=13.2313(4) Å for La0.6Sr0.4CoO3−δ; a=5.4437(1) Å, c=13.2085(5) Å for La0.7Sr0.3CoO3−δ; a=5.4497(2) Å, c=13.1781(6) Å for La0.8Sr0.2CoO3−δ and a=5.4445(2) Å, c=13.0936(6) Å for LaCoO3−δ with the space group probably being R3c.

The kieserite-type solid-solution series of synthetic (Cu,Mg)SO4·H2O was investigated by TG-analysis and X-ray powder diffraction using the Rietveld method. Representatives with Cu≥20 mol% are triclinic distorted () analogous to the poitevinite (Cu,Fe)SO4·H2O compounds. Cation site ordering with preference of Cu for the more distorted M1 site was additionally proven by the structure refinement.

I have made use of X-ray powder diffraction patterns for over sixty years. In the summer of 1922, in anticipation of my becoming a graduate student in chemistry, I read the book “X-Rays and Crystal Structure,” by W. H. and W. L. Bragg. Then in September 1922 I arrived in Pasadena, and immediately began to learn how to determine the structure of a crystal by a study of the X-ray diffraction pattern from Roscoe Gilkey Dickinson, who was the first person to have received a Ph.D. degree from the California Institute of Technology (1920). The procedure in use in Pasadena started with the preparation of a photograph showing lines obtained by Bragg reflection from a developed face of a large crystal with monochromatic radiation, usually molybdenum K alpha and beta. Measurement of the angle of reflection gave a set of possible values for the length of the edges of the unit of structure, usually of a cubic, hexagonal, or tetragonal crystal, since the methods were not powerful enough to permit the evaluation of more than two or three parameters. The next step was the preparation of Laue photographs, and their analysis. This was a powerful method, which often led to the correct structures.

The X-ray powder diffraction patterns of anilinium trimolybdate tetrahydrate, (C6H5NH3)2Mo3O10·4H2O, and anilinium trimolybdate dihyhydrate, (C6H5NH3)2Mo3O10·2H2O, have been measured in room temperature. The unit cell parameters were refined to a=11.0670(7) Å, b=7.6116(8) Å, c=25.554(3) Å, space group Pnma(62) and a=17.560(2) Å, b=7.5621(6) Å, c=16.284(2) Å, β=108.54(1)°, space group P21(4) or P21/m(11) for orthorhombic anilinium trimolybdate tetrahydrate and monoclinic anilinium trimolybdate dihydrate, respectively.

A powder X-ray diffraction technique has been developed to quantify the relative amounts of α-carbamazepine (A) and β-carbamazepine (B) when they occur as a mixture. The theoretical basis of this technique was developed in 1948 by Alexander and Klug (Anal. Chem., 20:886-889). The powder X-ray diffraction patterns of A and B revealed that the line with d-spacing of 10.1 Å was unique to A. The ratio of the integrated intensity of the 10.1 Å line in a mixture of A and B, to the intensity of the 10.1 Å line in a sample consisting of only A, was calculated as a function of weight fraction of A in the mixture. These ratios were also experimentally determined, and there was a good agreement between the theoretical and experimental intensity ratios. The particle size of the samples, the sample preparation technique and the experimental conditions were controlled so as to eliminate the major sources of error in powder X-ray diffractometry. In order to minimize preferred orientation of the particles, a sample holder was specially fabricated.