Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 March 2019
Quantitative multicomponent analysis of phases by x-ray diffraction still remains one of the most difficult applications of any element or phase spectroscopic method. The level of quality of XRD quantitative analysis is largely in the hands of the operator, but several relatively new methods for processing basic diffraction data are becoming known and more frequently used, including fulltrace (observed and calculated) subtraction methods (Smith et al, 1988), Rietveld procedures (Bish and Howard, 1988; Taylor and Aldridge, 1993), and chemical “apportionment” target-transformation methods (Starks, et al, 1984). In spite of these new advances, the single or multiple peak reference intensity ratio (RIR, or kj) procedure remains a simple and attractive technique for routine quantitative XRD analysis (Schreiner, 1995; Snyder, 1992; Davis, 1992).