Powder Diffraction File (PDF-4)

June 22, 2005 on 11:15 am | In Database News |

The S&E Library now has PDF-4, a database of x-ray powder diffraction data for 26,000+ organic and 139,000+ inorganic materials–including minerals, metals and alloys. It can be accessed on the “stand-alone” computer near the reference desk, replacing the previous Powder Diffraction File that hadn’t been updated since 1997. This database will be of interest to students and researchers in physics, chemistry and materials science.

More information about PDF-4’s features is available from ICDD. PDF-4 has built-in help menus you can access while you’re using the database, and taking a few minutes to browse the menu options will also provide an good overview of the searching options and available data. Please contact the Chemistry Librarian for more information.

The relational database format of the PDF-4 product line places all entry fields for diffraction, crystallographic, bibliographic and physical property data in individual tables. These tables can be queried through the use of 35 different classification systems (i.e., formula, d-spacing, space group). Each classification system such as the minerals, organic functional group, color, or Pearson Symbol can contain a few to several hundred subclasses (filters) that can be separately queried. Boolean operators and search results can be combined resulting in nearly limitless data mining capabilities.