Inas much as the application of chemical analysis to condensed phosphates is difficult, a study has been made of the possible application of an X-ray diffractometer to the quantitative analysis of condensed phosphate (NaPO
3-Na
5P
3O
10 system), which generally contains an amorphous part.
In such condensed phosphates, the amorphous part is easily transformed to a mixture of crystalline NaPO
3 and Na
5P
3O
10 by heat treatment at an adequate temperature. It is then possible to infer or deduce various characteristics of the original sample (before the heat treatment); and there-by to control the quality of industrial products by means of the analysis of the composition of the crystalline mixture obtained by the heat treatment.
NaPO
3 (I) and Na
5P
3O
10 (I) were employed as the crystal forms for the analysis because they are more stable; and their treatment is easier, and their diffraction intensity is stronger than those of any other crystal form. The sample was heated at 500550°C. CaSO
4·1/2 H
2O was used as the internal standard.
As a result of an examination of the heating time, it was seen that the transformation to NaPO
3 (I) is rapid, so that accurate results can be produced by heating 1 hr. at 500°C; while to be sufficiently transformed to Na
5P
3O
10 (I) it is necessary that the sample be heated more than 2 hrs. at the same temperature. The smaller its content is, the longer the sample should be heated.
The average deviation of the experimental results was of the order of 5%. Several samples (both commercial and laboratory) were investigated, and some interesting facts were obtained.
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