A clear understanding of the solid-state reaction of kaolinite (Kln), quartz (Qtz), and sodium carbonate (Na2CO3) is of great significance for the process optimization of coal gangue calcined with Na2CO3. In this work, a comparative study of the isothermal solid-state reaction systems of Kln–Na2CO3 and Kln–Qtz–Na2CO3 was performed by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope, and energy dispersion spectroscopy (SEM-EDS). The results showed that the calcined products both for these reaction systems mainly contain different kinds of sodium aluminum silicates (e.g., NaAlSiO4, Na1.55Al1.55Si0.45O4, and Na1.95Al1.95Si0.05O4) and various kinds of sodium silicates (e.g., Na2Si3O7, Na2SiO3, and Na6Si2O7). The mass percentage of Na2CO3 played a key role in the phase transformation, determining the Na/Al/Si molar ratio of the formed sodium aluminum silicates. Compared with the reaction system of Kln–Na2CO3, the existence of Qtz inhibited the formation of sodium aluminum silicates in the reaction system of Kln–Qtz–Na2CO3. It should be noted that the formed phases both for these reaction systems were slightly different from that of the thermodynamical calculated results of Na2O–SiO2–Al2O3 using FactSage™ software. According to both the experimental and calculated results, a reasonable batching area for coal gangue activation was proposed that the addition of Na2CO3 should be in the range of 20–50% of the total mass of Kln, Qtz, and Na2CO3.

The structure, powder diffraction patterns and bandgap measurements of a series of manganese- and tungsten-containing alkaline-earth double perovskites (CaxSr2−x)MnWO6 (x = 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1.5, 1.75) have been investigated. Powder X-ray diffraction patterns of this series of compounds measured at room temperature have been submitted to be included in the Powder Diffraction File (PDF). These compounds crystallize in monoclinic space group P21/n (No.14). From (Ca1.75 Sr0.25)MnWO6 to (Ca0.25Sr1.75)MnWO6, lattice parameters a range from 5.6729(2) Å to 5.6774(4) Å, b from 5.5160(2) Å to 5.6638(4) Å, c from 7.8741(3) Å to 8.0051(4) Å, V from 240.39(2) Å3 to 257.410(12) Å3, and Z = 2. These compounds are pseudo-tetragonal. They all consist of distorted MnO6 and WO6 octahedra with rotational mismatch angles and tilt angles with respect to each other. For (CaxSr2−x)MnWO6, as x increases, the mismatch angles for MnO6 octahedra increase from 7.96 (6)° to 13.12(8)° and from 9.28(7)° to 14.87(9)° for WO6 octahedra. Correspondingly, the tilt angles range from 11.60(15)° to 14.20(3)° for MnO6, and from 13.34(2)° to 16.35(3)° for WO6. Bandgap measurements suggest that these compounds to be direct-allowed semiconductors with bandgaps ranging from 1.5 to 2.5 eV, indicating that members of (CaxSr2−x)MnWO6 are potential photocatalysts and photovoltaic materials that absorb visible light of the solar spectrum.

The crystal structures of 11 lanthanide terephthalate tetrahydrates have been refined using laboratory X-ray powder diffraction data and optimized using density functional techniques. The lattice parameters and R–O bonds exhibit expected trends based on the cation size. The R–O bond distances in the Rietveld-refined structures are similar. However, in the density functional theory (DFT)-optimized structures, the bond distances break into two distinct groups, longer and shorter R–O bonds. This indicates that the bond distance restraints imposed upon the refined structures may have a greater impact than is expected from their weights. The aromatic carboxyl groups were not completely planar, but it is known that the carboxyl groups can rotate to accommodate hydrogen bonding and coordination to the metal. Both water molecules coordinated to the lanthanides act as hydrogen bond donors, but only one of the three unique carboxyl groups acts as an acceptor.

Tungsten (W) films have many applications in the semiconducting industry for sensor technology. Deposition conditions can significantly impact the resulting W films in terms of the phases present (α-BCC or β-A12), microstructural grain orientation (texture), and residual strain. Tilt-A-Whirl methodology has been employed for the evaluation of a W film showing both texture and residual strain. Sin2(ψ) analysis of the film was performed to quantify the strongly tensile in-plane strain (+0.476%) with an estimated in-plane tensile stress of ~1.9 GPa. The 3D dataset was also evaluated qualitatively via 3D visualization. Visualization of 3D texture/strain data poses challenges due to peak broadening resulting from defocusing of the beam at high ψ tilt angles. To address this issue, principal component analysis (PCA) was employed to diagnose, model, and remove the broadening component from the diffraction data. Evaluation of the raw data and subsequent corrected data (after removal of defocusing effects) has been performed through projection of the data into a virtual 3D environment (via CAD2VR software) to qualitatively detect the impact of residual strain on the observed pole figure.

This paper aims to explore the influence of solvent effects on the crystal habit of venlafaxine hydrochloride using the modified attachment energy (MAE) model by molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. Solvent effects were investigated based on the different morphologies of venlafaxine hydrochloride acquired by simulation and experimental technology from the solvents of isopropanol, dimethyl sulfoxide, and acetonitrile. Firstly, morphologically dominant crystal faces were obtained through the prediction of crystal habit in vacuum by the attachment energy (AE) model. Subsequently, the MAEs were calculated by the MD simulation to modify the crystal shapes in a real solvent environment, and the simulation results were in agreement with the experimental ones. Meanwhile, in order to have a better understanding of the solvent effects, the surface structure was introduced to analyze the solvent adsorption behaviors. The results show that the crystal habits of venlafaxine hydrochloride are affected by the combination of the AE and surface structures. Finally, the flowability of the obtained crystal powders from different solvents was investigated by measurement and analysis of the angle of repose and compressibility. The above results verify that the physical properties are closely related to the morphologies of the crystals.

Exact and approximate mathematical models for the effects of sample transparency on the powder diffraction intensity data are examined. Application of the formula based on the first-order approximation about the deviation angle is justified for realistic measurement and computing systems. The effects of sample transparency are expressed by double convolution formulas applying two different scale transforms, including three parameters, goniometer radius R, penetration depth μ−1, and thickness of the sample t. The deconvolutional treatment automatically recovers the lost intensity and corrects the peak shift and asymmetric deformation of peak profile caused by the sample transparency.

The crystal structure of aminopentamide hydrogen sulfate has been solved and refined using synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction data, and optimized using density functional techniques. Aminopentamide hydrogen sulfate crystallizes in space group P21/c (#14) with a = 17.62255(14), b = 6.35534(4), c = 17.82499(10) Å, β = 96.4005(6)°, V = 1983.906(14) Å3, and Z = 4. The structure consists of layers parallel to the bc-plane with hydrogen sulfate anions at the core and aminopentamide cations on the outside. There is a strong charge-assisted O49–H53⋯O52 hydrogen bond between the hydrogen sulfate anions. This hydrogen bond links the anions in a chain parallel to the b-axis. The cation forms a discrete N–H⋯O hydrogen bond to the anion. The amide group also forms two weaker discrete hydrogen bonds to the anion. The three N–H⋯O hydrogen bonds link the cations and anions into columns parallel to the b-axis. This commercial material from USP contained an unidentified impurity, the powder pattern of which could be indexed on a monoclinic unit cell. The powder pattern has been submitted to ICDD for inclusion in the Powder Diffraction File™ (PDF®).

CVD-coated cemented carbides are widely used for various metal cutting applications. It has been established that the textures of the coating materials especially that of the α-Al2O3 greatly affect the cut performance for some applications. The characterization of the coating texture is thus very important. In this paper, inverse pole figures of α-Al2O3 based on XRD with Bragg Brentano geometry were calculated for several metal cutting inserts available in the market. This method is simple, less time-consuming and can be applied to previously collected data and is compared with that of the EBSD. Despite several differences, IPF maps based on XRD powder diffraction represent the texture of metal cutting inserts.

Cement references were reviewed and whole pattern methods were developed for the quantitative phase analysis (QPA) of Type I Portland Cements. A set of control references were established for phase identification and quantitative analysis using laboratory diffractometers. Both RIR and Rietveld whole pattern fitting methods were used in the analyses. A block refined, parameter restricted, Rietveld method produced the best QPA results by comparison with known mixtures. Similar to prior literature findings, care has to be taken because of the severe peak overlap of the major calcium silicate and calcium aluminate phases in Portland cement and the complexity of the chemistry and structures involved. Two of the four major phases identified are doped supercells and the major C3S phase is also disordered.

The crystal structure of merimepodib has been solved and refined using synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction data and optimized using density functional theory techniques. Merimepodib crystallizes in space group P212121 (#19) with a = 4.60827(3), b = 12.30400(14), c = 37.9583(4) Å, V = 2152.241(20) Å3, and Z = 4. The crystal structure is dominated by two chains of N–H⋯O hydrogen bonds along the a-axis. The solid-state conformation has a similar general shape to the minimum-energy conformation, but different orientations of several of the rings. The differences indicate that intermolecular interactions are important in determining the solid-state conformation. The powder pattern has been submitted to ICDD for inclusion in the Powder Diffraction File™ (PDF®).

The crystal structure of imepitoin has been solved and refined using synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction data, and optimized using density functional techniques. Imepitoin crystallizes in space group Pbca (#61) with a = 12.35541(2), b = 28.43308(8), c = 7.340917(7) Å, V = 2578.882(7) Å3, and Z = 8. The roughly planar molecules stack along the c-axis. There are no traditional hydrogen bonds in the structure, but several intramolecular and intermolecular C–H⋯O, C–H⋯N, and C–H⋯Cl hydrogen bonds contribute to the crystal energy. The powder pattern has been submitted to ICDD for inclusion in the Powder Diffraction File™ (PDF®).

Environmental benign and stable kesterite Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) photovoltaics provides an intriguing alternative to conventional solar cells. However, further development is required for boosting the Voc-deficit in CZTS photovoltaic to enhance the cell function. Intending to obtain high-quality CZTS powder as the basis, here we report a comprehensive study of the vacuum annealing process (including annealing temperature, duration, and heating rates) for synthesized powder with the ball-milling method, which leads to a high-quality kesterite structure. According to analysis outcomes, there are not any significant differences in structures of differently milled specimens while the optical and morphological findings exhibit distinctive results. In short, the 10 h milled powder annealed at 500 °C for 5 h with a 9 °C min−1 heating rate possesses a high-quality structure alongside the desired 1.53 eV bandgap and optimum morphological characteristics.

The crystal structure of nequinate has been solved and refined using synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction data and optimized using density functional techniques. Nequinate crystallizes in the space group P21/c (#14) with a = 18.35662(20), b = 11.68784(6), c = 9.06122(4) Å, β = 99.3314(5)°, V = 1918.352(13) Å3, and Z = 4. The crystal structure is dominated by the stacking of the approximately planar molecules. N–H⋯O hydrogen bonds link adjacent molecules into chains parallel to the b-axis. The powder pattern has been submitted to ICDD for inclusion in the Powder Diffraction File™ (PDF®).

The crystal structure of baricitinib has been solved and refined using synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction data and optimized using density functional techniques. Baricitinib crystallizes in space group I2/a (#15) with a = 11.81128(11), b = 7.06724(6), c = 42.5293(3) Å, β = 91.9280(4)°, V = 3548.05(5) Å3, and Z = 8. The crystal structure is characterized by hydrogen-bonded double layers parallel to the ab-planes. The dimers form a graph set R2,2(8). The sulfone ends of the molecules reside in the interlayer regions. The powder pattern has been submitted to ICDD for inclusion in the Powder Diffraction File™ (PDF®).

Quantitative phase analysis is one of the major applications of X-ray powder diffraction. The essential principle of quantitative phase analysis is that the diffraction intensity of a component phase in a mixture is proportional to its abundance. Nevertheless, the diffraction intensities of the component phases cannot be compared with each other directly since the coherent scattering power per unit cell (or chemical formula) of each component phase is usually different. The coherent scattering power per unit cell of a crystal is well represented by the sum of the squared structure factors, which cannot be calculated directly when the crystal structure data is unavailable. Presented here is a way to approximate the coherent scattering power per unit cell based solely on the unit cell parameters and the chemical contents. This approximation is useful when the atomic coordinates for one or more of the phases in a sample are unavailable. An assessment of the accuracy of the approximation is presented. This assessment indicates that the approximation will likely be within 10% when X-ray powder diffraction data is collected over a sufficient portion of the measurable pattern.

The crystallite size distribution is an important parameter affecting the processing and properties of materials or products containing crystallites. The X-ray diffraction pattern collected with a two-dimensional detector may contain one or several spotty diffraction rings when an appropriate X-ray beam size is used. The spottiness of the diffraction ring is related to the size, size distribution, and orientation distribution of the crystallites. The intensity of a diffraction spot may represent its volume or size of a crystallite when a perfect Bragg condition is met. This paper introduces the algorithms and procedure to evaluate crystallite size distribution from a 2D diffraction pattern by rocking scan.