Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 March 2019
Modern powder diffraction employing computer-controlled diffractometers now allows quantitative analytical methods to use the whole diffraction trace rather then only individual peaks. Two such methods are in common use the Rietveld method which refines the crystal structures of the component phases as part of the matching calculation, and the patternfitting method which uses reference patterns from a database. Potential accuracies of these methods seems to be around 1 % absolute. The most severe limitation on the potential accuracy of these methods is particle statistics, which has been reviewed in considerable detail.