Rietveld Quantitative Phase Analyses of SRM 2686a: a Standard Portland Clinker
Authors/Creators
- 1. X-Ray Data Services S.L., Edificio de Institutos Universitarios, Oficina 11C, C/ Severo Ochoa 4, Parque Tecnológico de Andalucía, 29590 Málaga, Spain
- 2. Servicios Centrales de Apoyo a la Investigación, Universidad de Málaga, 29071, Málaga, Spain.
- 3. Departamento de Química Inorgánica, Universidad de Málaga, Campus Teatinos S/N. 29071, Málaga, Spain.
- 4. Departamento de Química Inorgánica, Universidad de Málaga, Campus Teatinos S/N. 29071, Málaga, Spain. & ALBA Synchrotron, Carrer de la Llum 2-26. 08290 Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain.
Description
SRM 2686a is a NIST reference Portland clinker with a reported mineralogical analysis from powder
diffraction and electron microscopy. Furthermore, this sample is used in ASTM C1365 test method for
Rietveld quantitative phase analysis validation procedure. Here, we have analysed SRM 2686a by
using three state-of-the-art powder diffraction configurations: i) strictly monochromatic CuKα1
radiation in flat reflection geometry; ii) strictly monochromatic MoKα1 radiation in flat transmission
geometry; and iii) synchrotron radiation in rotating capillary transmission geometry. The powder
patterns were analysed by Rietveld methodology with the best available protocols. The results indicate
that the reported NIST analysis overestimate belite content which explains problems found for
implementing ASTM C1365 in some cement manufacturing plants. Furthermore, the three patterns are
deposited as open data access at Zenodo, so interested laboratories can analyse these data to verify their
protocols.