Quantitative interpretation of X-ray diffraction patterns of mixtures. II. Adiabatic principle of X-ray diffraction analysis of mixtures

All the information relating to the quantitative composition of a mixture is coded and stored in its X-ray diffraction pattern. It has been the goal of X-ray diffraction analysts since the discovery of X-rays to retrieve and decode this information directly from the X-ray diffraction pattern rather than resort to calibration curves or internal standards. This goal appears to be attained by the application of the `matrix-flushing theory' and the now-proposed `adiabatic principle' in applied X-ray diffraction analysis. The matrix-flushing theory offers a simple intensity-concentration equation free from matrix effects which degenerates to `auto-flushing' for binary systems. The adiabatic principle establishes that the intensity–concentration relationship between each and every pair of components in a multi component system is not perturbed by the presence or absence of other components. A key equation is derived which conducts the decoding process. Both the matrix-flushing theory and the adiabatic principle are experimentally verified.