A Dual Counter X-Ray Analyzer for the Rapid Quantitative Analysis of Two-Phase Systems

Abstract

The normal procedure for a quantitative measurement of two phases with an X-ray diffractometer is to scan or count the intensities of two diffraction peaks and then to calculate the ratio of the two phases using an appropriate equation. This paper will describe an improved method of quantitatively measuring two phases in a sample. The diffractometer, which was constructed by Philips Electronics Instruments, consists of two fixed scintillation counters mounted at the Seeman-Bohlin focusing positions for the two desired diffraction lines. Each counter is preceded by a lithium fluoride curved crystal monochromator. The output from each counter feeds to a separate scaler which can be arranged to gate both scalers at a preselected number of counts. At this point a tape printer prints out the counts for both scalers. These counts are then related to the proportions of each phase present by an appropriate equation. Most of the electronics are solid-state designs. This paper will describe the instrumentation and show how it can be used to measure rapidly and precisely the ratio of anatase to rutile in a titanium dioxide system. The savings in time over the conventional method can be as much as 100 to 1.