A high temperature furnace for in situ and time-resolved x-ray diffractionstudies

A high temperature furnace has been built and mounted on a six-circle gonio meter for in situ diffraction studies of polycrystalline and powder samples . Temperatures up to 1400 K are controlled with a stability better than +/- 0.05 K in a vacuum better than 10(-7) atm. The furnace is also able to work in oxidizing or reducing atmosphere and is mounted on a chi circle table u sing the phi circle as a driver for precise translation of the sample in th e z direction. The sample can be rotated continuously via a mechanical feed through. The temperature is measured by means of a thermocouple placed at t he sample holder (0.5 mm from the sample position). The temperature has bee n calibrated up to 1073 K by following the known thermal expansion of an Al CuFe quasicrystal. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S0034-6748(99)0 0505-5].