I have done XRD analysis on two samples. The intensity for one sample I am getting more for montmorillonite mineral. What wiil I interprete, either the concentration of montmorillonite is more or less in two samples
Quite sure Sandeep,
intensity (better peak integral) is proportional to concentration. However when comparing XRD pattern of two samples you have to ensure that sample preparation has been done in the same way (e.g. as excellent mixture of fine powder) in order to avoid intensity variations due to preferred orientation/orientational artifacts. Furthermore sample height has to be adjusted being the same.
When comparing the XRD pattern of two samples having similar composition you are able to decide which of these sample has got a higher amount of one constituent than the other, but you are not easily able to quantify the ratio for example of two constituents. This because the peak integrals depend on a) type of lattice, on b) hkl-index of the peak, on c) the 2 theta values of the peaks.
Furthermore x-ray attenuation is affected by sample composition and thus the peak integral does too. However when comparing the peak integral ratios taken from within one diffractogram the x-ray attenuation effect is cancelled.
For quantitative evaluation of concentration it is therefore recommended to apply a series of calibration diffractograms taking samples of known concentrations of the constituents.
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