Fast high-resolution characterization of powders using an imaging plate Guinier camera

Abstract

A new Huber Guinier camera G670 was installed on an Ultrax18-Rigaku X-ray rotating Cu anode source, with a monochromator (focal length B = 360 mm ) providing pure Kα 1 radiation. The camera is used for powder diffraction applying transmission geometry. An imaging plate (IP) brings about position-sensitive detection measurement. In order to evaluate this new instrumental setup, quality data were collected for some classical reference materials such as silicon, quartz, some standards supplied by NIST USA and ceramic oxides synthesized in our laboratory. Each sample was measured at 4 kW for 1–2 min at 2 θ from 0 to 100°. The results were compared with published references. The following desirable features are noted for the instrumental combination studied: production of high quality X-ray data at a very fast rate, very accurate intensity measurements, sharp diffraction patterns due to small instrumental broadening and a pure monochromatic beam, and small position errors for 2 θ from 4 to 80°. There is no evidence for extra line broadening by the IP camera detector setup. It was found that the relatively high instrumental background can be easily dealt with and does not pose difficulty in the analysis of the data. However, fluorescence cannot be filtered.