Ali, A.; Chiang, Y.W.; Santos, R.M. X-Ray Diffraction Techniques for Mineral Characterization: A Review for Engineers of the Fundamentals, Applications, and Research Directions. Minerals2022, 12, 205.
Ali, A.; Chiang, Y.W.; Santos, R.M. X-Ray Diffraction Techniques for Mineral Characterization: A Review for Engineers of the Fundamentals, Applications, and Research Directions. Minerals 2022, 12, 205.
Ali, A.; Chiang, Y.W.; Santos, R.M. X-Ray Diffraction Techniques for Mineral Characterization: A Review for Engineers of the Fundamentals, Applications, and Research Directions. Minerals2022, 12, 205.
Ali, A.; Chiang, Y.W.; Santos, R.M. X-Ray Diffraction Techniques for Mineral Characterization: A Review for Engineers of the Fundamentals, Applications, and Research Directions. Minerals 2022, 12, 205.
Abstract
For many decades, X-ray diffraction (XRD) has been used for material characterization. With the recent development in material science understanding and technology, various new materials are being developed, which requires upgrading the existing analytical techniques such that intricate problems can be solved. Although, XRD is a well-established non-destructive technique, it still requires further improvements in its characterization capabilities, especially when dealing with complex mineral structures. The present review conducts comprehensive discussions on atomic crystal structure, XRD principle, its applications, uncertainty during XRD analysis, and required safety precautions, all in one place. It further discusses the future research directions, especially the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning tools for improving the effectiveness and accuracy of XRD technique for mineral characterization. It has been focused that how XRD patterns can be utilized for a thorough understanding of the crystalline structure, size, and orientation, dislocation density, phase identification, quantification, and transformation, information about lattice parameters, residual stress, and strain, and thermal expansion coefficient of materials. All these important discussions on XRD for mineral characterization are compiled in this short yet comprehensive review that would benefit specialists and engineers in the chemical, mining, iron, metallurgy, and steel industries.
Keywords
X-ray diffraction; Mineral characterization; Crystal structure; Bragg’s law; Lattice parameters; Crystallography; Unit cell
Subject
Chemistry and Materials Science, Materials Science and Technology
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.