A semi-automated system for identifying crystalline materials with powder diffraction data

A semi-automated system has been developed for identifying the components of a crystalline mixture according to correlations between the diffraction pattern of the mixture and the Hanawalt index of the Powder Diffraction File. The system is designed for use in the laboratory with modest computing facilities, e.g. a disc or tape-based 16 K mini-computer. In the computerized stage of the system those components which cannot contribute to the measured pattern are automatically eliminated. Subsequent manual interpretation of the results of the computer search, preferably with the support of a semi-quantitative elemental analysis, further reduces the number of possibilities.