International Union of Crystallography

Robert L. Snyder

Jaroslav Fiala

Hans J. Bunge

Hans Joachim Bunge

Defect and Microstructure Analysis by Diffraction is focused on extracting information on the real structure of materials from their diffraction patterns. The primary features of a powder diffraction pattern are determined by the "idealized" periodic nature of the crystal structure. With theadvent of computer automation the techniques for carrying out qualitative, quantitative and structure analysis based on the primary pattern features rapidly matured. In general, the deviations of a particular specimen, from the ideal or perfect crystal structure, cause diffraction peak profiles tobroaden and sometimes to become asymmetric. Thus, information on the real structure or microstructure of a specimen can be obtained from a careful study of the diffraction line profiles. The evolving techniques for microstructure analysis from diffraction patterns such as micro-strain, crystallitesize, macro-strain and preferred orientation analysis require an ever more detailed understanding of the effects of crystallographic mistakes on peak assymmetry and the effect of the distribution of small crystallites on the tails of diffraction peaks. This book provides a comprehensive analysis ofthe fundamental theory and techniques for microstructure analysis from diffraction patterns and summarizes the current state of the art. This complete survey lays the foundation for the next and last major development in this field: the extraction of the full information in a powder pattern by thesimulation of the full experimental pattern. The goal of this branch of science is to extract all of the information locked in the powder diffraction pattern including: the types and densities of stacking faults, the strain field produced by each, the anisotropic crystallite size and orientation,along with the size and strain distributions of each phase in a specimen. This book provides a complete summary of the developments of the twentieth century and points the way.

Defect and Microstructure Analysis by Diffraction

David R. Rossington

Robert A. Condrate

The characterization of materials and phenomena has historically been the principal limitation to the development in each area of science. Once what we are observing is well defined, a theoretical analysis rapidly follows. Modern theories of chemical bonding did not evolve until the methods of analytical chemistry had progressed to a point where the bulk stoichiometry of chemical compounds was firmly established. The great progress made during this century in understanding chemistry has followed directly from the development of an analytical chemistry based on the Dalton assumption of multiple proportions. It has only become apparent in recent years that the extension of our understanding of materials hinges on their non-stoichiometric nature. The world of non-Daltonian chemistry is very poorly understood at present because of our lack of ability to precisely characterize it. The emergence of materials science has only just occurred with our recognition of effects, which have been thought previously to be minor variations from ideality, as the principal phenomena controlling properties. The next step in the historical evolution of materials science must be the development of tools to characterize the often subtle phenomena which determine properties of materials. The various discussions of instrumental techniques presented in this book are excellent summaries for the state-of-the-art of materials characterization at this rather critical stage of materials science. The application of the tools described here, and those yet to be developed, holds the key to the development of this infant into a mature science.

Robert L. Snyder

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