A01_-_Salient_Characteristics.doc

Salient Characteristics

Description of the Requirement:

The Army Research Laboratory (ARL) requires one (1) Benchtop Powder X-Ray diffractometer for ceramic phase identification analysis in accordance with the salient characteristics below:

1. One (1) Portable desktop diffraction instrument with integrated water cooling system for x-ray tube

2. Power system 90-250 Volts (V), 50-60 Hertz (Hz)

3. Theta/theta geometery in which the sample is always horizontal

4. Maximum scanning range -3 to 160 °2θ

5. Minimum step size 0.005 °2θ

6. Accuracy equal or better than +/- 0.02 °2θ over the full angular range

7. Minimum peak width better than 0.05 °2θ.

8. Copper k alpha (Cu kα) radiation from a standard ceramic sealed tube

a. Copper (Cu) anode, long fine focus, short neck, 2.2 Kilowatt (kW), one exit window for spot and one for line focus, focus size: 0.04 x 12 millimeter (mm) and 0.4 x 1.2 mm, ceramic insulation body.

9. X-ray generation 30 kilovolts/10 miliamps

10. Maximum radiation level < 1 microsievert per hour

11. Includes the following accessories:

a. 2.3° soller slit

b. 1.5° axial soller slit

c. Divergence slits (0.1 mm, 0.2 mm, 0.6 mm, 1 mm)

d. Anti-scatter slit (3 mm)

e. Computer control system which is embedded into the instrument

f. Keyboard and mouse

g. Alignment standard specimen

h. Alignment slits

i. Ni k-β filter

j. Cu absorber plates

12. Measurement software to control the instrument:

a. Shall be able to define measurement parameters and conduct calibration analyses. Shall also be able to control movement of goniometer, sample stage and sample rotation rates.

13. Analysis software for general data evaluation:

a. Peak search and creation of peak datafor phase identification

b. Manual and fully automatic background subtraction

c. Data smoothing (Savitzky-Golay method or Fourier filtering)

d. Kα2-stripping (Rachinger method)

e. 2θ-offset and sample displacement corrections

f. Calculation of mass absorption coefficients and corresponding X-ray penetration depth into the specimen

g. Calculation of profile parameters such as line position, center of gravity, integrated area, half width and more

h. Crystallite size determination (Scherrer method)

i. Addition, subtraction, scaling, normalisation and merging of scans

j. Simultaneous evaluation of multiple scans

k. Undo / redo operations

l. Support of variable counting time data

14. Database support from the International Center for Diffraction Data (ICDD) (ICDD-PDF4+ with license for five (5) years or more).

15. Six (6) position sample changer with sample rotation for specimen holders with a controllable rotation speed of 1 – 80 rotations per minute.

16. Twelve (12) sample holders for thick powder compaction

17. Six (6) zero background sample holders for small quantities of sample powder with no interference from the sample holder.

18. Single sample stage accessory

19. Advanced detector system (silicon strip detector) for fast x-ray diffraction measurements and a method to minimize sample fluorescence.

20. The contractor shall provide all associated user manuals, pre-installation guides, and supplementary information.

21. The contractor shall provide all radiation safety information along with any required licenses.

22. The contractor shall provide at least one (1) eight (8) hour training course and one (1) on-site familiarization of instrument and software.

a. The eight (8) hour training course shall provide information on detailed analysis methods which highlight the capabilities of the instrument; such as Rietvel Refinement, quantitative analysis, crystallite size and lattice parameter calculations.

b. On-site familiarization shall provide information on how to complete simple phase identification including sample preparation methods and software analysis.

23. The contractor shall provide on site warranty service for at least two (2) years.

Template last updated 07/28/2016