Rietveld Refinement of Powder X-Ray Diffraction Data of Polycrystalline Materials

About This Course

Welcome to the Research Skill Development Course in Materials Science. If you are a Research Scholar or Faculty Member working with complex X-Ray Diffraction data, you know the frustration of "black-box" refinements where peaks don't match and the background is unstable. Most tutorials only teach you which buttons to click, not why refinements fail.

This 100% self-paced course is designed to make you completely independent. Over 13 intensive recorded sessions, you will transition from fundamental XRD theory to executing complex multiphase refinements using the FullProf Suite. You will not practice on perfect, artificial data—instead, you will receive the actual sample files used in published research articles.

The curriculum is structured logically from the ground up: starting with data acquisition and software configuration, moving through single and two-phase refinements, and ending with complex multiphase systems. Though the course is self-paced, you are fully supported with three live contact classes (7:00 PM to 9:00 PM IST) to clarify your specific doubts directly with the instructor. By the end of this course, you will possess the secrets to handling real-world, tricky samples to achieve publication-ready structural analyses on your own.

Requirements

• A basic background in Physics, Chemistry, or Materials Science (M.Sc., M.Phil., or Ph.D. level is ideal).

• A desktop or laptop computer with administrative access to install the FullProf Suite and necessary auxiliary software.

• No prior experience with Rietveld refinement or FullProf is required; the course covers foundational theory before introducing the software.

Course Staff

Dr. K. Saravana Kumar, M.Sc., Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Physics, Sri. S. Ramasamy Naidu Memorial College (SRNMC), Sattur.

Dr. Saravana Kumar brings over 8 years of specialized experience in Rietveld Analysis and computational materials science. Bridging the gap between experimental diffraction data and theoretical electronic structure calculations, he has successfully mentored multiple batches of researchers. His teaching philosophy focuses on removing the guesswork from data analysis, empowering scholars to become completely independent in their research and refinement techniques.