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Earth & Planetary Sciences X-Ray Diffraction Laboratory

Index to Information in the XRD Pages:

• Current Status of the Laboratory
• Our Facility and Equipment
• Requirements for Users of the Laboratory
• Links to X-Ray diffraction Resources (Help documents for our lab, theory, practice, safety and vendors).
• Introduction to X-ray Powder Diffraction class Information and tutorial materials.

Location: Room B-25, Northrop Hall,
200 Yale Blvd. NE, Albuquerque, NM 87131
Lab Phone: (505) 277-6530

Lab Manager: Jim Connolly. Office: Northrop Hall Rm. 209A (inside the computer lab).
Phone: (505) 277-9447, FAX: (505) 277-8843, Email: connolly@unm.edu

These X-Ray Diffraction pages are designed to be a resource for current and potential users of the X-ray powder diffraction laboratory at in the Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences at the University of New Mexico. They are eternally under construction. Latest updates 2-Feb-2009.

Lab Status: The Scintag Diffractometer is
UP ! !

Status as of 5 PM on 19-May-2009: The new X-ray tube has been received, installed and conditioned (with thanks and kudos to Bob Macy). We have run our corundum standard and the intensity is almost 100% improved over the old tube and its replacement. Bottom line is the system is available for use again and we will be resuming our old policy of returning the tube to its 10 ma current when the system will be idle for more than 12 hours or so.

Alignment looks decent with the average deviation from standard peak positions around 0.02 degrees, but we hope to improve upon that. The current plan is to take the system down for a few days in mid-June and jump into doing a good full-range physical alignment with the new x-ray tube, hopefully improving our precision and accuracy throughout the goniometer range, but mostly in the lowest angle ranges where we have noticed the largest deviations.

I will broadcast an Email to the full user base on 20-May, but bottom line is everything is working as it should. Please check back here (http://epswww.unm.edu/xrd) for status updates.

The old chiller has been retired to inactive status (for possible future repair) and replaced by another slightly newer Haskris chiller that is working fine. The unfortunate thing about the new chiller is that as it is configured it vents warm air towards the room rather than towards the vent in the door, and we have yet to figure out how it can be reoriented to vent in the other direction while still having the controls accessible. It works, but the room can warm up more that we'd like.

Jade 9.0 has been installed on both systems, and by February 15 the ICDD database will be updated to the most recent (September, 2008) version of the PDF4. 2008 Release 2 of the ICSD Database have been installed on both systems and integrated into Jade 9.0. Jade 9 includes some nice enhancements in the data visualization area and includes two varieties of Search/Match -- the conventional pattern comparison algorithms, plus a new (with Jade 8.5) whole pattern least-squares fitting algorithm. Users are encouraged to try both methods and see what works best with your data. We have had some luck in whole pattern fitting for fairly simple 2 and 3 phase mixtures. As with everything, it isn't perfect but it is another tool in the toolbox. Please note that if you have any custom Search/Match "UserFiles" created for your work, you will need to reconstruct them using the newest version of the ICDD database before they will be fully functional (i.e., allow detailed card data to be displayed, etc.) with the updated databases.

Other past items of note:

• Because of recent scheduling conflicts that have arisen, I have created an "Official" XRD Laboratory Scheduling Policy to be followed by all users. This policy is designed to allow users to schedule time on the system and have that policy be respected by other users. Please read it (by clicking on the link) and heed what it says. Failure to do so will result in a warning, and continued failures to do so will result in suspension or termination of laboratory privileges.
  
  
• The notice in the lab asking that the system be run at full filament current (35 mA) has been removed. Please return the filament current to idle levels (10 mA) after using the system if nobody is scheduled to use it after your run.

Yahoo Calendar: In the interest of convenience to our all-over-campus users, we are now using an onlne calendar for scheduling lab time. All current users should have received information about how to log in and access the calendar for "epsxrdlab" located Yahoo calendars at http://calendar.yahoo.com. See or Email to Jim Connolly (connolly@unm.edu) if you need the access password. The "read-only" version at http://calendar.yahoo.com/epsxrdlab may be consulted to see what times are available without logging in. There are shortcuts on the desktop of all lab computers to access the calendar. We also have an online Adobe Acrobat document which explains in some detail how to effectively use the calendar. This online calendar is the authoritative calendar for lab scheduling. The paper calendar in the lab is for reference only.

As always, users are asked to send Email feedback to the Lab Manager with any comments.

Please direct comments and suggestions about these pages and the X-Ray Diffraction Laboratory to Jim Connolly, Lab Manager.

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