Powder XRD Methodology—Main Research Instrument in Modern Mineralogy

A special issue of Minerals (ISSN 2075-163X). This special issue belongs to the section "Crystallography and Physical Chemistry of Minerals & Nanominerals".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (28 February 2022) | Viewed by 51548

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Institute of Mineralogy and Crystallography, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria
Interests: mineralogy; crystallography; natural zeolites; ecology; material science; powder XRD methods; Rietveld structure analyses; XRD quantification

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Powder XRD methodology is a milestone in modern crystallography and mineralogy.

Powder XRD approaches used intensively are phase analysis, Rietveld structural analyses, profile fitting peak analysis, and quantitative analysis of polycrystalline materials.

The International Centre for Diffraction Data (ICDD) is the world center for quality diffraction data to meet the needs of the technical community collecting data from Grant-in aid projects and Calculated powder patterns from single crystal structural data.

Rietveld structural analysis with powder XRD data helps with scientific challenges based on polycrystalline phases—minerals, synthetic materials, composites, etc. The development of powder XRD instrumentation, step-scanning techniques, and modern software pave the way for solving structural problems of polycrystalline materials.

Profile fitting analysis helps to determine the peak profiles broadened by microstructural factors (crystallite size and lattice disorder), providing information regarding the microstructural properties of materials. Today, nanoscience and nanomaterials have become a topical issue. The determination of the crystallite size of materials via profile analysis of powder XRD patterns is based on the FWHM of peaks, the Sherrer equation, and modern software.

Powder XRD quantitative analysis (using the Rietveld methodology) is another modern approach using the whole XRD pattern instead of the intensities of some peaks. The approach involves obtaining the best data, identifying the phases, and inputting structural data for all phases, then letting the computer model the data until it reaches the best fit for the experimental pattern. This is an optimized and speedy quantitative determination of minerals in various geological environments.

Dr. Ognyan E. Petrov
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • phase analysis
  • Rietveld structural analyses
  • profile fitting
  • quantitative analysis
  • microstructure
  • crystallite size
  • strain
  • lattice disorder

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Review

25 pages, 5926 KiB  
Review
X-ray Diffraction Techniques for Mineral Characterization: A Review for Engineers of the Fundamentals, Applications, and Research Directions
by Asif Ali, Yi Wai Chiang and Rafael M. Santos
Minerals 2022, 12(2), 205; https://doi.org/10.3390/min12020205 - 6 Feb 2022
Cited by 219 | Viewed by 50499
Abstract
X-ray diffraction (XRD) is an important and widely used material characterization technique. With the recent development in material science technology and understanding, various new materials are being developed, which requires upgrading the existing analytical techniques such that emerging intricate problems can be solved. [...] Read more.
X-ray diffraction (XRD) is an important and widely used material characterization technique. With the recent development in material science technology and understanding, various new materials are being developed, which requires upgrading the existing analytical techniques such that emerging intricate problems can be solved. Although XRD is a well-established non-destructive technique, it still requires further improvements in its characterization capabilities, especially when dealing with complex mineral structures. The present review conducts comprehensive discussions on atomic crystal structure, XRD principle, its applications, uncertainty during XRD analysis, and required safety precautions. The future research directions, especially the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning tools, for improving the effectiveness and accuracy of the XRD technique, are discussed for mineral characterization. The topics covered include how XRD patterns can be utilized for a thorough understanding of the crystalline structure, size, and orientation, dislocation density, phase identification, quantification, and transformation, information about lattice parameters, residual stress, and strain, and thermal expansion coefficient of materials. All these important discussions on XRD analysis for mineral characterization are compiled in this comprehensive review, so that it can benefit specialists and engineers in the chemical, mining, iron, metallurgy, and steel industries. Full article
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