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Assembled by Jim Connolly (connolly@unm.edu). Updated: 20-Nov-2008.
The main reasons a text is not required for this course are that:
The course notes (prepared with significant effort by your undercompensated instructor) should provide a good working basis for using the powder diffractometer safely and effectively for routine analytical work and hopefully give you a fundamental understanding of what is going on. I have copies of most of the texts listed below. See me if you want to borrow one to review it before purchasing.
Although there is a lot of information available online about XRD (see our XRD Resources page), anyone who plans to go beyond basic phase identification will probably want to pick up a good book or two on the subject. After reading a lot of material to put this course together, there are two texts I can strongly recommend. Each has a different emphasis and which is best will depend on what you want to do. Both are "Introductory" in nature, start with the basics, and contain up-to-date information. There are many other texts available, some of which are included in this compilation following the recommended ones. The decent ones in the second group that fit into the category of affordable are indicated by the symbol <<$. The prices shown are as of November, 2008 from Amazon.com (generally has best online prices for new books).
Jenkins, Ron and Snyder, Robert L., 1996, Introduction to X-ray Powder Diffractometry,
John Wiley, 403 p.
This is a well-written, comprehensive, fairly up-to-date, all around introductory
text for X-ray powder diffraction. The volume includes good sections on instrumentation,
equipment alignment, specimen preparation, and modern computer-based analytical
methods. Dr. Jenkins was one of the originators of the powder diffraction short-courses
taught at the ICDD, and much of those courses are still based in the material
in this book. If you know the material in this volume, you will have a solid
foundation upon which to build your skills as an analyst. (Current Retail Price:
$140; available online for $112; sometimes available used for less.)
Pecharsky, V.K., and Zavalij, P.Y., 2003, Fundamentals of Powder Diffraction
and Structural Characterization of Materials, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 713
p.
This is probably the most comprehensive and up-to-date single volume reference
on the use of X-ray powder diffraction for the structural analysis of crystalline
materials. Chapter 1 covers crystallography and symmetry in 95 pages, Chapter
2 covers the fundamentals of diffraction (in 165 pages), and Chapter 3 covers
experimental techniques (including safety) in 80 pages, and Chapter 4 covers
basic data processing, phase identification and introduces quantitative analysis
(in 60 pages). The balance of the book (300 pages) is concerned unit cell determinations,
crystal structure determination and crystal structure refinement. The "introductory"
parts are well written, clear and rigorous (but not light reading) and provide
a very solid base upon which the material in the final chapters is built. My
main quibble is with Chapter 1 in which crystal symmetry is approached in what
feels like a lot of different directions; it seems a bit confused at times,
but it is ultimately a difficult subject to cover clearly in 95 pages. The authors
clearly understand that the availability of powerful personal computers and
specialized (usually freely available) software has enabled powder diffraction
to become the sophisticated tool for structural analysis that now is. Published
in 2003 the volume integrates the use of a variety of indexing and refinement
codes and treats the use of software as an integral part of the analytical process.
I considered using this as a text for this course, but decided that it might
be a bit too much for an introduction (and even a bit much for your instructor
at this stage). Clearly, however, this book is teaching the science of powder
diffraction as it is done in now. If you plan to do structural analysis
of materials with X-ray powder diffraction, this book will be very useful and
worth the cost. (Current Retail Price for Paperback Edition: $99; available online for $79.11)
Bish, D.L., and Post, J.E., eds., 1989, Modern Powder Diffraction, Min.
Soc. America Reviews in Mineralogy Vol. 20, 369 p.
This is a surprisingly comprehensive yet very readable volume summarizing powder
diffraction features articles from experts in the field. The first four articles
alone (on Principles or XRD, Instrumentation, Experimental Procedures, and Sample
Prep) are a concise introduction to the method, and there is a lot more. Highly
recommended and affordable. Although published 19 years ago, this is still a
very modern and up-to-date volume, and worth purchasing. (Available new from
The Mineralogical Society of America. Price: $28 ) <<$
Cullity, B.D. and Stock, S.R., 2001, Elements of X-Ray Diffraction, Third
Edition, Addison-Wesley, 664 p.
The 2nd edition (1978) was a widely used introductory text in X-ray diffraction.
This 2001 update of the original volume is very good in parts, but my impression
is one of fairly uneven quality. Some sections are very good -- Chapter 6 on
"Diffractometer Measurements" contains a more thorough discussion
of x-ray optics and detectors than in the other volumes in its price range.
Other sections are quite dated -- Chapter 9 -- "Phase Identification by
X-Ray Diffraction" offers a miniscule section on computerized search methods,
and this is now how 95+% of phase identification is now done. The 2nd edition
which is still widely available from used booksellers at a considerably lower
price and may be a wiser buy than this updated edition. (Current Retail Price:
$151; available online for $120.80)
Klug, Harold P., and Alexander, Leroy E., 1974, X-Ray Diffraction Procedures
for Polycrystalline and Amorphous Materials, Second Edition, John Wiley, 966
p.
This book, which has not been revised for 25 years, is still the most comprehensive
single-volume work on X-ray diffraction, and highly recommended as a "shelf"
reference for anyone who will be doing a lot of XRD work or running a laboratory.
The volume contains extensive discussions of virtually everything that can (and
does) influence the quality of data collection from generator settings, alignment,
detectors, and sample preparation. There are many things covered in this volume
that are not found in any other book on X-ray diffraction. Though it is an invaluable
reference, I cannot recommend it for general use because the astronomical cost
and absence of any treatment of the advances in computerized methods and modern electronics and detectors since the
publication date in 1977. Since early 2007, new volumes can only be found on
the Wiley Interscience web site (http://www.wiley.com) and only available as a "print-on-demand" title.. The book occasionally
appears in the inventories of online used booksellers but is often quite expensive;
a 2nd edition for less $200 should be considered a bargain. (Current Retail
Price: $418.95 from Wiley)
Moore, Duane E., and Reynolds, Robert C., Jr., 1997, X-Ray Diffraction and
the Identification and Analysis of Clay Minerals, 2nd Edition, Oxford University
Press, 378 p.
Indispensable and (almost) affordable volume which should be owned by anyone
planning to do analyses of clay minerals by XRD. Chapters 2 and 3 contain a
very lucid introduction to the X-rays and diffraction processes; the rest of
the volume is very specific to the preparation, analysis and structure of clay
minerals. (Current Retail Price: $69.95; available online for $62.95; may be found used for somewhat less.) <<$
Nuffield, E.W., 1966, X-ray Diffraction Methods, John Wiley & Sons,
408 p.
This out-of-print volume is a comprehensive, classic text on X-ray diffraction.
Contains thorough, mathematically rigorous yet understandable discussions of
diffraction phenomena and still an excellent reference text. Much of my discussion of diffraction theory was directly lifted from this volume. (Check Barnes &
Noble - www.bn.com or Amazon.com for availability from their networks of used
booksellers. I've recently seen copies for as little as $10 plus shipping.)
Can be <<$
Bloss, F. Donald, 1994, Crystallography and Crystal Chemistry: An Introduction,
Mineralogical Society of America Monograph Series, 545 p.
This classic text, first printed in 1971, is one of the most useful and
lucid presentations of crystallographic principles to be found. It includes
a very good introductory chapter on X-ray crystallography. While still in demand
as a classroom text, the original publisher chose not to reprint it because
it was not sufficiently profitable. The author collaborated with the Mineralogical
Society of America to publish it in paperback as one of their Monograph series,
and it is now one of the best bargains for those with an interest in understanding
the subject. (Available only from the Mineralogical Society of America -- www.minsocam.org.
Price: $32) <<$
Buhrke, Victor E., Jenkins, Ron, and Smith, Deane K., eds., 1998, A Practical
Guide for the Preparation of Specimens for X-Ray Fluoresence and X-Ray Diffraction
Analysis, John Wiley, 333 p.
A very comprehensive volume on sample preparation methods with discussions of
sources of errors in analyses of prepared specimens for XRD and XRF. Excellent
but probably more extensive than required by most XRD users. (Current Retail
Price: $169.95; available online for $135.96)
Klein, Cornelis, and Dutrow, Barbara, 2007, Manual of Mineral Science (Manual
of Mineralogy) (23nd Edition), John Wiley, 704 p.
The classic mineralogy text includes a very succinct discussion of X-ray diffraction.
This volume provides the basic framework for the mineral chemistry and crystallography
needed to make optimal use of your X-ray diffraction data. The excellent interactive
CD-ROM is a crystallography tutuorial on its own. This volume should be in every
geologist's library (and a version probably is if you ever took Mineralogy).
(Available online for about $125)
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