Statistical model of systematic errors: An assessment of the Ba-Cu and Cu-Y phase diagram

In a series of experimental measurements, the difference among values obtained in several experiments (between-errors) quite often are greater than the reproducibility scatter within an experiment (within-errors). This is typically explained in terms of systematic experimental errors. The application of a method devised in mathematical statistics, i.e., The estimation of variance components, allows us to treat this problem. In the present work, the use of this method is considered for the non-linear thermodynamic model pertaining to the assessment of the Ba-Cu and Cu-Y phase diagrams. The linear error model comprising a reproducibility error with the shift and tilt systematic errors was employed to describe the scatter observed. Special attention is paid to visualizing the quality of the fit.