Tag: X-ray

Webinar on Powder Diffraction by Malvern PANalytical

Introduction to Practical X-ray Powder Diffractometry

This presentation teaches the basic principles of X-ray diffraction and what information can be learned from an X-ray diffraction pattern. This presentation does not delve deeply into the mathematics or physics of diffraction, but rather focuses on illustrating the power of this materials analysis technique. It is intended for a broad audience—technicians, managers, students, professor moving from single crystal diffractometry into powder diffractometry, and those who are considering if X-ray diffraction could be a beneficial addition to their lab.

X-Ray Powder Diffraction is most often used to answer the questions: what is in the sample and how much? With modern diffractometers, it is possible to load a sample, push a single button, and get an answer. But … where did that answer come from? How reliable is it? What other information might be available in the data? This talk will dissect the X-ray powder diffraction pattern and show the wealth of information contained within.

More information can be found here.

Malvern PANalytical Aeris used by Georgia Tech students

The Aeris is a benchtop XRD capable of quick high resolution scans on powder samples or small solid samples. Conveniently it operates without the need of chiller water to operate and doesn’t have any exotic power requirements. Malvern PANalytical graciously allowed the Aeris to be housed in the Marcus Building and let students use it free of charge and several groups took advantage of it.

Malvern PANalytical Aeris in the XRD Lab

Malvern PANalytical has graciously housed the Aeris, their new benchtop XRD in the lab across from the Alpha-1. The Aeris is a easy to use XRD designed to run powder/pellet samples. This tool is free to use, and if you would like to get trained on it see how it runs your samples, please contact David Tavakoli (david.tavakoli@mse.gatech.edu) Tuesday or Wednesday of this week. Unfortunately on Thursday it will be shipped out to another lab.

For more details on the Aeris, please go here.

 

Workshop on Non-Ambient XRD at North Carolina State Nov 8-9

A complimentary symposium created by the collaborative efforts of NCSU & Malvern PANalytical

Organized by: Professor Jacob L. Jones (NCSU) & Dr. Scott A. Speakman (Malvern PANalytical)

Agenda:
November 8, 2017 1:00pm – 5:00pm – Symposium
November 8, 2017 5:30pm – 7:00pm – Poster Session
November 9, 2017 9:00am – 4:00pm – Symposium

Non-ambient X-ray diffraction is a useful tool for determining phase stability, studying phase transformations, and following reaction pathways and kinetics. Practical examples include in-situ battery analysis for developing new cathode materials, understanding pharmaceutical stability with temperature and humidity, quantifying growth kinetics of nanocrystalline systems, and many more. New non-ambient chambers, faster instruments, and automatic data processing make non-ambient diffraction an ever-increasingly powerful technique. However, there are issues that can trip up the unwary, such as thermal gradients, unwanted reactions, systematic errors, etc. This symposium will feature lectures by leading researchers developing and using non-ambient diffraction on laboratory instruments, synchrotrons, and neutron beamlines. Lectures will focus on the research potential of non-ambient diffraction and practical advice for collecting accurate and useful data.

Attendees are encouraged to present a poster on their work related to this symposium. Speakers will judge the posters and prizes will be awarded to the top 3.

This is a free workshop and you can sign up for it here.

For those that cannot attend, David Tavakoli will be attending and will distribute notes to anyone interested.

Webinar: Characterizing ceramic compounds using state-of-the-art X-ray diffraction (XRD)

Characterizing ceramic compounds using state-of-the-art X-ray diffraction (XRD)

This webinar will be shown on September 7th at 10:00AM in the Lobby of the Microscopy Suite in Marcus. You can register and get more information here.

Webinar abstract

Due to their wide range of composition/structures as well as the versatility of their applications ceramics are a widely studied subject within the materials sciences. Their characterization in order to determine physical and chemical properties is paramount to predict how a ceramic compound will behave in high-temperature environments. Various analytical techniques are used for the characterization of ceramics with XRD being one of them. This technique is, however, not yet exploited to its full potential. Currently it is mostly used for simple phase analysis during and after the production process and in some cases for in situ high-temperature studies.

However, modern multipurpose diffraction platforms allow more analytical approaches. They can be combined to fully characterize a ceramic compound in terms of phase composition, crystallinity (amorphous/glass content), crystallite size, 2D phase distribution, depth profiling, residual stress, texture, thermal behavior (in situ), as well as 3D microstructure.

During this webinar various case studies where XRD is used for the characterization of ceramics will be discussed, showing various analytical examples. You will learn how XRD can be applied to the different materials and analytical challenges. Case studies of the following applications will be given:
– Phase analysis using Rietveld full-pattern fitting
– Grazing incidence XRD
– Non-ambient diffraction
– Residual stress and texture
– Microdiffraction
– Computed tomography

 

Webinar – Is the X-ray diffraction theory we use correct? May 30, 2017

The theory of X-ray diffraction from crystals has been established for over 100 years; although it is still used, it cannot account for some of the experimental data. The theory combined with measured data can sometimes lead to the wrong structural model. In this webinar you will hear about a new theory that includes the diffraction from crystals in all directions, which explains the diffraction from polycrystalline materials and the data collected in serial crystallography without the need for complex structural requirements.

This webinar will be on display of the lobby of the MCF in the Marcus Nanotechnology Building at 11:00EST on May 30, 2017.

More information can be found here.

Webinar – May 23, 2017 – Beyond Cu: The many colors of X-rays – selecting the best X-ray tube for your analysis

Presented by: Scott Speakman Ph.D – XRD Principal Scientist

Modern laboratory diffractometers are designed to operate with X-ray tubes that may have many different types of anodes: Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Cu, Mo, Ag, and more. The X-ray tube anode determines the wavelength of radiation that is produced for measurements. Despite the wide selection of anodes available, contemporary literature is dominated by research that uses Cu wavelength X-rays for powder diffraction and scattering studies—so much so that some researchers mistakenly believe it is the only choice because “everybody else uses it”. While Cu anode X-ray tubes have always been widely used in laboratory diffractometers, literature provides many examples of measurements that benefited from the use of other wavelengths of radiation, including synchrotrons and neutron beamlines.

This webinar will be streamed in the lobby of the MCF in the Marcus Nanotechnology Building on May 23 at 11:00AM.

Webinar: How to calculate a Pair Distribution Function with HighScore software

The pair distribution function (PDF) provides the probability of finding atoms separated by a certain distance; useful information about the short- and long-range ordering of the atoms in the materials can be extracted from the analysis of the PDF. Because atomic periodicity is not a requirement for the analysis, the PDF method is best suited for the analysis of amorphous and nanomaterials, but also for disordered crystalline materials.

This webinar will be displayed in the lobby of the MCF in the Marcus Nanotechnology Building on February 16th from 10:00-11:00AM.

More information can be found here.

Webinar: X-ray powder diffraction with BBHD, structure solution

A webinar from PANalytical will be shown in the lobby of the MCF in the Marcus Nanotechnology Building at 10:00AM on February 9th, 2017.

The live webinar will show how to solve a crystal structure from powder data using the Empyrean diffractometer and the HighScore software suite. We will discuss the requirements for solving a crystal structure from powder data and we will show recent examples of some vanadates among which a new larnite/belite structure. Furthermore, as phase transitions may appear as function of temperature, the best practice for high-temperature measurements will be presented.

A live question and answer session will follow the presentation.

More details can be found here.

Webinar on XRR in the Marcus Lobby on Dec 15th, 2016

Do you want to collect high-quality X-ray reflectometry data? Good practices that will help

X-ray reflectometry (XRR) is a well-established analytical method for the characterization of thin layered structures, surfaces and interfaces. It is used to determine layer thicknesses and densities and provides roughness-related information. The basics of XRR and the analysis of XRR data were discussed in a previous webinar. This time, the focus will be on a typical workflow, from setting up the X-ray optics of a diffractometer, the essential steps of the sample alignment procedures to the final XRR measurement.
Don’t miss the useful practices and tips that we will share with you in this webinar. They will help you to collect high-quality XRR data from your layered samples.

Webinar details

December 15, 2016
10:00am EDT New York or 4:00pm CET the Netherlands

More information can be found here.

Will be displayed on the main monitor in the lobby of the MCF in the Marcus Nanotechnology Building.