Samples of the mineral ferroan clinozoisite from three localities of Greece (Paranesti-Drama, Xanthi, and Petritsi-Serres), with chemical formula Ca2Al3−xFexSi3O13H (x=0.55, 0.58, and 0.46, respectively), were measured by X-ray powder diffraction, using CoKa radiation. The PDF and bibliographic information were used in order to identify additional phases in the samples. Refinement combined with PDF resulted in the following: ferroan clinozoisite (100%) for the first sample, ferroan clinozoisite (97%) and malladrite (3%) for the second one, and ferroan clinozoisite (75%), clinopyroxene (20%), and malladrite (5%) for the third one. The crystal structure refinement was performed by the “Powder profile analysis (Rietveld)”. P21/m space group was chosen for the ferroan clinozoisite phases, with unit cell constants a=8.8919(5) Å, b=5.6260(3) Å, c=10.1570(6) Å, β=115.418(3)° (Paranesti), a=8.8944(7) Å, b=5.6394(4) Å, c=10.1626(8) Å, β=115.400(5)° (Xanthi) a=8.8965(8) Å, b=5.6372(4) Å, c=10.1595(9) Å, β=115.411(6)° (Petritsi) almost similar for the three samples, while the final R-p factors were 0.069, 0.064, and 0.063, respectively.

A powder diffraction method was applied to the quantitative analysis of amorphous silica in several quartz powders. Two calibration methods, i.e., direct analysis and the standard addition method were examined. Calibration mixtures were made by mixing a standard silica gel powder ground to under 5 μm particle size with a matrix quartz powder which was ground to 10 to 40 μm particle size and treated with NaOH solution to remove the amorphous phase caused by grinding. Intensity of the amorphous halo was measured at 23.0° 2θ, and the background intensity at 53.0° 2θ was subtracted. Linear calibration curves were obtained over the ranges of 0 to 50 wt% by direct analysis and 0 to 20 wt% by standard addition methods, respectively. The analytical results obtained by the two calibration methods were in good agreement with each other. The relative standard deviations for 4.3 wt% of amorphous silica were 4.6% by the direct analysis and 5.4% by the standard addition method. These methods were successfully applied to a correction of reference intensity ratios (RIR) for several quartz powders containing amorphous silica. After the correction for amorphous content, the relative standard deviations of the RIR values for quartz powders became smaller.

An X-ray powder diffraction analysis has been performed on several samples from the naturally occuring patina of the Statue of Liberty. This work, which was conducted as a service to the National Park Service as part of the restoration activities for the Statue, was performed to assess the impact of acid deposition on the phase composition of the patina. Samples of the patina that were obtained from various locations on the copper skin of the Statue were found to consist primarily of the basic copper sulfate known as brochantite or CuSO4·3Cu(OH)2. Another less stable form of basic copper sulfate CuSO4·2Cu(OH)2 known as antlerite was also observed in samples taken from areas that are more exposed to the incoming weather in New York harbor. The presence of antlerite supports the contention that acid deposition is promoting undesirable changes in the phase composition of the patina. Analyses were also performed on patina samples that were taken from pieces of the Statue's copper skin that had been removed in the years 1905 and 1980. X-ray powder diffraction of the corrosion product on the 1905 sample showed that it consisted primarily of the stable brochantite phase, while the 1980 sample displayed both copper chlorides as well as the less stable antlerite. Both samples also contained cuprite (Cu2O) which appears to have formed prior to either of the sulfates.

The structure of K3H(SO4)2 is found to be monoclinic with space group C2/c based on analogy of the powder X-ray diffraction pattern with that of the Rb3H(SO4)2. The lattice parameters are a=14.6984(7), b=5.6840(2), c=9.7834(5) Å, and β=103.004(5)°, Vol=796.39(5); Dx=2.589 gcm−3, Z=4, and I/Icor=1.30.

Since the discovery of the superconductivity in Ba2YCu3 O7-x, the system Ba-Y-Cu-O has generated vast interest. The presence and the properties of the intermediate phases were examined, and the existence of the BaY2O4 phase was confirmed.

We have determined the crystal structure of this material from powder data; it is orthorhombic, Pnma (no 62) with a = 10.394(3) Å, b = 3.450(1) Å, c = 12.113(4) Å, isotypic with SrY2O4 (CaFe2O4-type). The observed and calculated intensity values are reported together with the powder diffraction data, obtained both by Guinier and diffractometer methods.

A conventional vertical powder diffractometer has been adapted to allow the collection of high-resolution, single-wavelength diffraction data using Co, Cu or Mo radiation. The major modifications are (i) incorporation of an incident beam focusing monochromator attached to the tube shield, (ii) a variable tilt angle of the tube shield to provide a horizontal beam path through the diffractometer (for ease of alignment), (iii) mounting of the entire diffractometer on a single, very stable base-plate, with micrometer-controlled adjustment of the orientation, (iv) inclusion of a knife-edge, micrometer-controlled focusing slit, and (v) use of a range of Soller slits with acceptance angles down to 1.5° 2φ. The performance of the instrument compares favourably with conventional non-monochromated diffractometer data collected from SRM660 LaB6 and monoclinic ZrO2. In particular, the peaks are more symmetric and have narrower widths, and the peak-to-background ratio is much higher, leading to much superior resolution and profile shapes for structure solution and Rietveld refinement.

X-ray powder diffraction data and refined unit cell parameters for three compounds found during experimental determination of the BaO:Fe2O3:TiO2 phase diagram are reported here. All three phases crystallize in space group C2/m (No. 12). Ba2Fe2Ti4O13 (“2:1:4”) is isostructural with K2Ti6O13 and Ba2ZnTi5O13: a=15.1939(9), b=3.8912(3), c=9.1244(5) Å, β=98.456(5)°; Z=2, ρcalc=4.890 g/cc. Ba3Fe10TiO20 (“3:5:1”) is structurally analogous to its aluminum congener Ba3Al10TiO20: a=15.336(1), b=11.7986(9), c=5.1700(4) Å, β=91.220(6)° (I2/m setting); Z=2, ρcalc=4.750 g/cc. Ba4Fe2Ti10O27 (“4:1:10”) is also isostructural with its aluminum analog Ba4Al2Ti10O27: a=19.799(1), b=11.4324(6), c=9.8936(6) Å, β=109.146(4)° (C2/m); Z=4, ρcalc=4.934 g/cc. The 2:1:4 and 3:5:1 compounds adopt open-framework type structures while the 4:1:10 phase exhibits an eight-layer close-packed arrangement.

Described is an improved Gandolfi camera which overcomes the disadvantages of the adjustment procedure of the conventional instrument. The basic principle of the new construction is the introduction into a camera of a complete goniometer head as sample holder with two 45° rotation axes. Particular advantages of the modified Gandolfi camera are a simple and time saving centering technique as well as convenient combination possibilities of powder and single crystal investigations.

My students and I have developed a LOTUS 1-2-3 spreadsheet to aid in data reduction tasks associated with preparing powder diffraction data for publication in the Powder Diffraction File (PDF) (1987) and this journal. Portions of a sample spreadsheet and the formulae in each of the computational cells are given in the Table 1. The concept of this spreadsheet should apply to any of the available computer spreadsheet programs, although the specific codes for the mathematical functions may differ.

The user enters data only into columns C, D and F-H. All other entries will be calculated from the input data. Observed 2θ angles are entered into column D. The corresponding d-spacing is calculated in column A. The Miller indices of these peaks are entered into column C. Prior to use of the spreadsheet, the observed 2θ angles and hkl's had been used to refine unit cell parameters using the Appleman and Evans (1973) least squares unit cell parameter refinement computer program implemented for the IBM PC by Garvey (1986).

X-ray diffraction quantitative phase analysis is a technique widely used in materials science and engineering research. The method proposed by Zevin [L. S. Zevin, J. Appl. Cryst. 10, 147 (1977)] has proven very useful in practice because standards or pure crystalline phases are not needed, but, Zevin only described the case of n samples, each of which contain different concentrations of the same n phases. An extension of this method, in which the reference samples could contain less phases than the analyzed sample is proposed in this paper. The absence of phases in reference samples is not arbitrary but depends on certain conditions. The conditions required to solve the equations are discussed in detail using the concepts of the set theory, and the results of confirmation experiments agree well with the theory.

An organic nonlinear optical material, 3-methyl-4-methoxy-4′-nitrostilbene (C16H15NO3), has been characterized by X-ray powder diffraction. Experimental values of 2θ corrected for systematic errors, relative peak intensities, values of d, and the Miller indices of 77 observed reflections with 2θ up to 82° are reported. The powder diffraction data have been evaluated, and the figures-of-merit are reported. The unit cell parameters least-squares refined from 30 non-overlapping peaks of the orthorhombic compound with a Aba2 space group are a=15.7882(3) Å, b=13.4892(4) Å, c=13.3940(2) Å, V=2852.5(4) Å3, Z=8, Dx=1.254 g/cm3. The powder diffraction results are in a agreement with those obtained from single-crystal structure data.

X-ray powder diffraction data for Ti2O2(C2O4)(OH)2·H2O were obtained. The crystal system was determined to be orthorhombic with space group C2221. The unit cell parameters were refined to a = 1.0503(2) nm, b = 1.5509(3) nm, and c = 0.9700(1) nm.

A computer program is presented that allows for the analysis of powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns. Some peculiar features of the program are: the aptitude for dealing with diffractograms obtained from semicrystalline polymer samples and the ability to evaluate XRD patterns collected with CPS 120 detectors. The program is available as freeware via anonymous ftp at: ftp.cc.uniud.it under the directory/pulwin/.