Determination of cristobalite phase content in ceramic cores using various X-ray quantitative phase analysis methods

The aim of this research is to investigate the cristobalite phase content in ceramic cores by different Xray based quantitative phase analysis methods. For this purpose, four popular routes including peak absolute intensity method, relative intensity ratio method, direct or calibration method and internal standard (or Alexander-Klug) method were chosen. Some control samples have been made using common raw materials which were used in the ceramic cores and characterized by X-ray diffraction to measure the main peaks intensities. Using each quantitative method with their unique mathematical calculation procedures, the cristobalite phase contents were calculated and compared with the real cristobalite phase contents of the samples. The results showed that the presence of the amorphous fused silica phase could have drastic effects on accuracy of the X-ray based quantitative phase analysis routes and the peak absolute intensity method showed the best results among the investigated routes.