A task group of the JCPDS—International Centre for Diffraction Data (ICDD) was established for the purpose of investigating a methodology which would be applicable for statistical process control monitoring of X-ray powder diffractometers. A procedure for collecting X-ray diffraction data for statistical process control purposes and the incorporation of these data into control charts are presented. The results of this task group show that, through the use of statistical process control methods, noncontrol situations for diffractometers were detected, the causes of these problems were identified, and these problems were corrected and noted on control charts.

Crystal data and a representative X-ray powder diffraction pattern are reported for a series of isomorphous compounds, LnKFe(CN)6.4H2O where Ln = La, Ce, Pr and Nd. They crystallize in the hexagonal space group P63/m (176) with Z = 2. A plot of the unit cell volume (V) versus the cube of the Ln ionic radius (r3) yields linearity with a correlation coeficient of 0.9998.

The main difficulty in the quantitative mineral analysis of rocks is connected with the variable nature of the mineral species. In the present paper a combined method (and a corresponding computer program) is proposed, which practically overcomes this difficulty. This method is based on linear equations, which are a combination of the chemical mass-balance equations with those of the quantitative X-ray diffractometry, and can perform (completely or partly) both the quantification and the chemical characterization of the minerals on several rock samples simultaneously, demanding only easily accessible initial information, such as: (i) major element (oxide) compositions for the samples; (ii) qualitative mineral composition of the samples; (iii) X-ray intensities for one or few nonoverlapped reflections of the crystalline minerals (not necessarily of all): (iv) some characteristic data for the phases (i.e., chemical composition data), if these are accurately known. Where it is possible the minerals may be expressed via end members. The samples may contain amorphous phases and/or phases without X-ray data. From the general case some very simple partial cases are derived, demanding less initial information. This method has the following advantages over the previous ones of similar philosophy: (i) drastic reduction of the number of required samples; (ii) sufficiency of equations for any analytical problem; (iii) possibility of performing partial analysis when a complete one is impossible; (iv) possibility of using the same end member in more than one solid solution. Analysis examples are given.

This is a second and considerably expanded edition of the RIR table. We are pleased that considerable interest is now being generated in the RIR table; several contributors have provided measured data for this second edition. We have also added many entries of common minerals and simple compounds from the JCPDS data base and will continue to add more from this source with each succeeding table published. In this regard where we receive requests for a particular class of RIR's (alloys, or rare earth oxides, for examples) we can give higher priority to extracting these values from the JCPDS data base.

The reader should refer to the text explanation of the first published table in Vol. 3, No. 4 of this journal. In the first text two important errors are noted here; Equation (3) should have read RIRcorr = RIRobs/Wj; and the second sample preparation category of section 4 Specific Parameters should read “(w) Methods including well mounts with side or back loading or similar process”.

A critical examination of the reference X-ray powder-diffraction patterns of the serpentine minerals in the Powder-Diffraction File (PDF) database has revealed an unsettling situation. Most of the patterns in, or previously in, the PDF database are inaccurate, misidentified, or of poor quality. The PDF database is not a dependable tool for identifying the serpentine minerals, and has not been since the mid-1960s. This has serious implications for studies on serpentine minerals that have depended on the PDF database, particularly those by nonmineralogists doing health and environmental studies of chrysotile asbestos. In the current PDF database, lizardite-1T, carlosturanite, some amesite, and possibly some antigorite (but with inappropriate polytype symbols) can be identified. Only one of the many multilayer lizardites can be identified. The current pattern for chrysotile-2Mc1 (clinochrysotile) is of reasonable quality, but not the best, however the earlier patterns still in the database are so problematic that any chrysotile-2Mc1 identification must be considered suspect. Chrysotile-2Oc1 (orthochrysotile), and any mixture of serpentines cannot be identified using the PDF database. Until the reference serpentine patterns are corrected the PDF database cannot be considered a reliable identification tool. High-quality powder-diffraction patterns of the serpentine minerals have been published and can be rapidly introduced into the PDF database.© 2000 International Centre for Diffraction Data.

X-ray powder diffraction data of BaFCl are reported for 2θ from 5° to 150° at 25 °C. Strain-free and dendrite-free single crystals of BaFCl, grown by flux method with KCl as flux, were powdered for recording this data. BaFCl is tetragonal, space group P4/nmm, with a=4.3964(1) Å and c=7.2315(3) Å.

Phase transitions were found with use of an in situX-ray anvil-type of apparatus with a boron annulus at pressures up to 12 GPa. The disordering of vacancies in the In sub-structure, or α→βtransition, was found in In2Te3at p > 1.9 GPa. The next transformation from the β-form into the Bi2Te3type of structure was observed in both sesquitellurides at 2.0 GPa and 5.0 GPa for In2TGe3and Ga2Te3respectively. The In2Te3metastable phase of the Bi2Te3resulted from heating up to 200° C at p > 4.0 GPa, and it remained in a normal condition on release of the pressure. The X-ray powder diffraction data of pressure-induced phases, volume changes and bulk modulus of both sesquitellurides are given. The compressibility anisotropy of the layer pressure-induced phase was observed. The mechanism of the crystal structure transformation from the face-centered cubic structure into the Bi2Te3type is proposed to be due to the displacement of atoms from the space diagonal of the cube [111] into [112]-cubic direction and the rhombohedral distortion of the angle between these directions.

Calculations of crystal size distributions in oriented clays (montmorillonite and kaolinite) are carried out utilizing X-ray diffraction data together with a method based on information theory. Two different procedures for dealing with the available data are compared. One of them involves some points of the corresponding spectrum, the other correlates the data by means of their moments.

The temperature dependence of the cell parameters is given for Bi2Mo3O12, Bi2Mo2O9, γ-Bi2MoO6 and γ'-Bi2MoO6, and the volume expansion coefficient is derived. A description is given of a high-temperature diffractometer (HTD) for temperatures up to about 1600°C in controlled atmospheres.

A quantitative X-ray diffraction method for the phase analysis of fertilizers of the NPK 12-19-19 type has been worked out together with a complex system of computer software. A bank of synthetic standards was employed in the solution of the problem. To reflect the real structure of the phases determined in fertilizers as against the structure of synthetic standards, intensity coefficients based on chemical analyses were assigned to individual phases in the bank of standards.

Three new mixed oxides having the nasicon structure and containing arsenic(V) as tetrahedral ion were prepared and X-ray analyzed. The stoichiometry of the three phases can be expressed by the comprehensive notation MeZr2As(3−x)PxO12 where Me stands for Na+ or K+, x equals to 0 and 1.5 when Me=Na, while x equals to 1.5 when Me=K. For two other compositions of the above series, the powder patterns were calculated on the basis of the structural data from single crystal determinations, thus permitting us to complete the characterization of the solids, with nasicon framework, deriving from MeZr2P3O12 (Me=Na+, K+) by partial (50%) or complete (100%) substitution of As for P.

Key words: nasicon, ionic conductors, phosphates, arsenates

The quantitative analysis of carbonate rich materials is tested with conventional and Rietveld methods. In the case of artificial mixtures of aragonite, calcite, Mg-calcite and quartz the Rietveld method provides reliable results with a maximum deviation of ±5 wt %. In the natural samples, however, the conventional methods give more reliable results in comparison to chemical and sedimentological measurements. This is caused by the peak overlap of calcite/Mg-calcite, peak roadening of the Mg-calcite, and the difficulties in the refinement of minor amounts of feldspar phases.