I've calculated the percentage of different phases in a refractory composition, but I know that there is little amorphous phase (liquid phase). How do I calculate the percentage of this amorphous phase?
The weight percent (wt%) of the crystalline phases were calculated on the basis of Reitveld refinement method using the X’Pert high score plus software.
Perform a powder diffraction experiment and measure the full theta-2theta diffractogram.The ratio between the area of the peaks respect to background will give you very approximately the percentage of amorphous sample (which contributes to the background).
It is depending on microstructure, size and amount of the liquid phase. Quantitative image analysis using SEM and a image analysis software could be helpful to measure the liquid phase by discriminating of the grey values of the single phases.
Dear Seyyed,
Obtainning the amount of liquid phase (glassy phase at room temperature) is a key problem in materials engineering. You asked for a calculation using XRD data, but you cannot calculate it in that way (the best you can get is a semi-quantitative result). Xavier gave you already a very precise hint how to perform it. Another possibility is to datermine the glassy phase amount by microstructural analysis, as Bjorn pointed out. Perhaps you could use chemical gravimetric analysis, dissolving the glassy phase in an acidic solution. However, if your refractory material is relatively known, you can immediately get your result from the analysis of phase diagrams.