Accuracy in Rietveld quantitative phase analysis: a comparative study of strictly monochromatic Mo and Cu radiations.

This study reports 78 Rietveld quantitative phase analyses using Cu Kα1, Mo Kα1 and synchrotron radiations. Synchrotron powder diffraction has been used to validate the most challenging analyses. From the results for three series with increasing contents of an analyte (an inorganic crystalline phase, an organic crystalline phase and a glass), it is inferred that Rietveld analyses from high-energy Mo Kα1 radiation have slightly better accuracies than those obtained from Cu Kα1 radiation. This behaviour has been established from the results of the calibration graphics obtained through the spiking method and also from Kullback-Leibler distance statistic studies. This outcome is explained, in spite of the lower diffraction power for Mo radiation when compared to Cu radiation, as arising because of the larger volume tested with Mo and also because higher energy allows one to record patterns with fewer systematic errors. The limit of detection (LoD) and limit of quantification (LoQ) have also been established for the studied series. For similar recording times, the LoDs in Cu patterns, ∼0.2 wt%, are slightly lower than those derived from Mo patterns, ∼0.3 wt%. The LoQ for a well crystallized inorganic phase using laboratory powder diffraction was established to be close to 0.10 wt% in stable fits with good precision. However, the accuracy of these analyses was poor with relative errors near to 100%. Only contents higher than 1.0 wt% yielded analyses with relative errors lower than 20%.

Full phase analysis of portland clinker by penetrating synchrotron powder diffraction.

Fabrication of portland cements commonly depends on X-ray fluorescence (XRF), which measures the elemental compositions. XRF is used to adjust the raw material proportions and to control the process conditions. However, to predict the mechanical strength of the resulting concrete, it is essential to know the phase composition which is, so far, indirectly inferred by the Bogue method. Here, we report a phase analysis of an industrial portland clinker containing six crystalline phases, Ca3SiO5, Ca2SiO4, Ca4Al2Fe2O10, Ca3Al2O6, NaK3(SO4)2, and CaO, by Rietveld refinement of synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction data (lambda = 0.442377 A). Even the minor component, CaO 0.45(2)%, was readily analyzed. We have also carried out a phase study of the same clinker with laboratory X-rays to characterize the changes in the detection limit and errors. Furthermore, by adding a suitable crystalline standard to the same clinker, we have determined the overall amorphous phase content. The procedure established for this state-of-the-art phase analysis shows the high precision that can be achieved by using penetrating X-rays, which is of interest not only in cement chemistry but in other industrially important multiphase systems such as slags, superalloys, or catalysts.