News From ICDD

ICDD Bulletin

The ICDD has created a bulletin board for information of interest to the Powder Diffraction community. The first item on the bulletin board is the table of contents for Powder Diffraction files named PDv-i.TOC, where v is the volume and i is the issue number. Each table of contents file is in ASCII and can be searched using any text editor. The file README.1ST is a road map to the information on the bulletin board.

The ICDD bulletin board is accessed through the Internet using anonymous FTP. To connect to the bulletin board, FTP to ICDD.COM, log in as anonymous and use your Internet address as your password. The README.1ST file can be downloaded to your computer at this point by typing get readme.1st. The table of contents, located in PD subdirectory, can be reached by typing the command cd pd. Type dir to display the files. To download all of the files, type mget *.toc. To download a specific file, for example, Vol. 8 issue 1, type get pd8.1

New Products from ICDD

Set 44 of the Powder Diffraction File is now available for distribution. It contains 1500 inorganic and 500 organic entries and is published on a wide variety of media. Sets 1-44 PDF-2 database, distributed on CD-ROM, contains 59,847 active entries. These patterns are included in various special interest subfiles, including inorganic materials; organic and organometallic materials; cements and hydration products; explosive materials; metals and alloys; minerals; pigments; polymers; superconducting materials; corrosion products; forensic materials; and zeolites and molecular sieves. Patterns in the PDF are continuously reviewed and updated for accuracy and quality. Statistics concerning the PDF, Crystal Data and Electron Diffraction Database available through ICDD appear in the accompanying table.

PC-PDF for Windows is a new data retrieval software package available as an option for those users of the database who have at least an 80386 processor and are operating in the Windows environment. This new program features all of the functionality of the current DOS retrieval software which will continue to be supplied with the PDF-2 database, free of charge.

PC Search Index is a new (DOS) program which is designed to fulfill the role of a "computer-readable search manual". It employs classical, systematic approaches such as the "Hanawalt" and "Fink" methods, which have been developed over the years to assist the user to personally allocate lines in the experimental pattern to phases of his choice, as "suggested" by the search scheme.

The Dow Polymer Pattern Collection is being made available to the public for the first time in an ICDD soft-cover publication. Collected by the research laboratories of the Dow Chemical Company, diffraction patterns of polymer species are reproduced in the form of diffractometer traces. The booklet also features short discussions on diffraction theory and on the experimental procedure used to obtain the patterns.

Table: Powder, Crystal Data, and Electron Diffraction Database