I want to estimate minerals percentage from soil XRD pattern. Can anyone please suggest me the Method/procedure or any good software, by which I can estimate minerals quantity with good accuracy?
Dear Dharmendra Barman ,
the problem related to the quantification of clay minerals fro a XRD pattern is still debated. Particularly about the best method to use to avoid bad estimation.
Attached a review paper that can help you to find the best approach to your study.
Regards,
Gabriele
From XRD data the estimation of clay minerals will always be of semi-quantitative nature.
The term "estimate" always signals a semiquantitative approach but to come as close as possible to the truth there is only one way out of the dilemma: A multiple-way approach.
1. Perform the Rietveld method as best as you can or make some kind of a peak/reflex “weight” assessment
2. Supplement it by means of XRF
3. Perform an image analysis (“chemical mapping”) SEM/WDX-EDX
HGD
Clay samples usually contain different clay minerals which in turn are fine dispersive and have different defects (mixed-layering, stacking failts, microstrains, etc.). Therefore classical quantitative XRD methods are not useful for such samples. The effective way is the simulation of the XRD pattern for each individual clay phase in a sample (taking into account its actual crystal structure) and then comparison of the experimental XRD pattern with the optimal summation of the calculated XRD patterns. The best result could be obtaind for several state of a sample (air-dried after Na, Ca, Mg or K - saturation, glycol saturation, heating at different temperates etc.) if one and the same structural model for each phase was used for different sample teratment. Close ratio contents of clay minerals for each sample treatment also will indicate to realistic resuts.
Check these paper
1. Article XRD-based quantitative analysis of clay minerals using refer...
2. Article Estimate of clay minerals amounts from XRD pattern modeling:...
My Postdoc Dr. Cherian does a lot of XRD. You can connect with her if needed.
For quantitative XRD, there are different methods such as reference intensity ratio (RIR), mineral intensity factor (MIF), Rietveld, and Full pattern summation methods. The Rietveld refinement is commonly used for phase quantification in soils. The XPert HighScore Plus software by Philips or TOPAS by Bruker can be used for quantitative phase analysis. In Material Science, other popular software are FullProf and GSAS II - Crystallography Data Analysis Software.
For full quantitative estimation, the Rietveld refinement by XPert HighScore Plus software is used for phase quantification of clay minerals in soils.
On the other hand, a semi-quantitative estimation of clay minerals is used based on the method describe by Schultz (1964) and Klages & Hopper (1982). The quantification of clay minerals is made by considering the peak area by taking the sum of height measurements at 2.0 mm intervals across the peak. This peak area has been divided by a correction factor (i.e. 1 for illite, 2.5 for Kaolinite and 10 for smectite).
Article Grain size distribution and mineralogy of some Pleistocene B...
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