Rietveld quantification of γ-C2S conversion rate supported by synchrotron X-ray diffraction images

The pure γ-Ca2SiO4(γ-C2S) phase was prepared at 1623 K of calcining temperature, 10 h of holding time and furnace cooling. The β-C2S phase was obtained through γ-C2S conversion with the following calcination system which was adopted at 1473 K of calcining temperature, 1 h of holding time and then water-cooling. The conversion rate of γ-C2S was studied by the Rietveld quantitative laboratory X-ray powder diffraction supported by synchrotron X-ray diffraction images. The refinement results show that the final conversion rate of γ-C2S is higher than 92%. The absolute error of the γ-C2S conversion rate between two Rietveld refinements (sample with or without α-Al2O3) is 3.6%, which shows that the Rietveld quantitative X-ray diffraction analysis is an appropriate and accurate method to quantify the γ-C2S conversion rate.