Rietveld refinement of Debye–Scherrer synchrotron X-ray data from Al₂O₃

The application of the Rietveld refinement technique to synchrotron X-ray data collected from a capillary sample of Al₂O₃ in Debye–Scherrer geometry is described. The data were obtained at the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS) with an Si(111) double-crystal monochromator and a Ge(111) crystal analyzer. Fits to a number of well resolved individual peaks demonstrate that the peak shapes are very well described by the pseudo-Voigt function, which is a simple approximation to the convolution of Gaussian and Lorentzian functions. The variation of the Gaussian and Lorentzian half widths, Γ_G and Γ_L, with Bragg angle can be approximated quite closely by the functions V tan θ and X/cos θ which represent the contributions from instrumental resolution and particle-size broadening respectively. Rietveld refinement based on this model yields generally satisfactory results. The refined values of V and X are consistent with the expected vertical divergence (≃0.1 mrad) and the nominal particle size (≃ 0.3μm). In particular, the use of a capillary specimen virtually eliminates preferred orientation effects, which are highly significant in flat-plate samples of this material.