The Shape of X-Ray Diffraction Lines from Colloidal Magnesium Oxide

Abstract

The broadened diffraction lines from colloidal particles have shapes which depend on the particle size and shape and on the geometrical features of the experiment. An analytical method is developed for eliminating the effect of the geometry of the experiment, thereby giving the shape of the diffraction line. The method is applied to the 200, 220, and 222 lines from colloidal magnesium oxide. The shapes of these diffraction functions in the low intensity regions are not sufficiently accurate to permit the determination of particle shape. The relative half-intensity breadths of curves give best agreement with the values to be expected for cube-shaped particles. The particle size, determined from the Scherrer equation, is 140 angstrom units, and the average deviation from this value is 3.1 percent.