MMSD Staff Release Version 5.2 of SRD31, Phase Equilibria Diagrams (PED)

The third Series-5 release of SRD31 is now commercially available and provides users with processing information for more than 200 material systems not previously covered by the database.  Series 5 of the PED standard reference database introduced a custom JavaScript viewer for interactive graphical display – the SRD31 product is now a self-contained application and no longer requires the separate installation and use of Java.  As confirmed by customer feedback since the first release in 2022, the new viewer simplifies and significantly enhances the user experience while preserving all previously available analytical capabilities.

The comprehensive, searchable PED application provides 33,000 phase equilibrium diagrams with fundamental information needed to discover or optimize materials for numerous applications ranging from semiconductors to cement to biomarkers.  The data include experimental and calculated diagrams for a wide range of non-organic material-types including oxides and mixed systems with oxides, chalcogenides (sulfides, selenides, tellurides), pnictides (N, P, As, Sb, Bi), actinides (U, Pu, Th) and actinide-surrogates (Ce), oxy-cation systems (e.g. molybdates, vanadates), semiconductors (Si, Ge, Sn), group-3 systems (B, Al, Ga, In, Tl), and salts, including mixed systems with salts. 

The phase diagrams in the SRD31 data collection serve as critically evaluated maps of the equilibrium chemical and structural behaviors exhibited by inorganic systems.  For commercially important materials, the phase diagrams provide critical starting information to devise processing schemes that facilitate quality-assurance efforts and optimize properties for specific applications.  For the exploration and design of new materials, including computational studies, the diagrams provide fundamental information on the occurrence and chemical composition of existing compounds as well as their thermodynamic properties.  New content for the PED database is extracted bimonthly from newly published scientific literature; NIST guidelines are used by subject-matter experts to write critical evaluations of the research and to standardize presentation of the diagrams.  Editing and production are carried out by PED Data Center staff based at the Gaithersburg NIST campus.  Further information is available on the SRD31 project webpage. 

The user-community for SRD31 includes more than 400 customers conducting materials research in industrial, academic, and government laboratories located in the U.S. and 31 countries.  Materials covered by this database are used across a broad spectrum of technologies in applications such as optoelectronics, thermal-barrier coatings, chemical sensors, energy converters, solar cells, nuclear-waste reprocessing, nuclear-reactor technology, photovoltaics, pigments, fuel cells, catalysts, thermoelectrics, capacitors, transducers, thermoluminescence, batteries, photovoltaics, video displays, lasers, spintronics, data-storage, electrolytic refining, metallurgical processing, semiconductor manufacturing, bioceramics, and dental restoration. 

The latest Version 5.2 product provides Volume 26, 170 new figures with 767 diagrams, including the the first diagrams for more than 200 new systems.  The new content in this version continues to reflect the explosion of research on the fundamental properties of materials needed to enable the transition to green-energy technologies and manufacturing, including the sustainable processing of raw materials and recycling/recovery of critical metals from secondary sources or low-grade ores.  New chemical systems and diagrams in v.5.2 provide data needed to advance a wide variety of applications including hydrogen-production by electrolysis of water, thermal-energy storage and heat-transfer media for concentrated solar power (CSP), advanced molten-salt nuclear reactors (complex salt systems for fuel; thorium fuel-cycle; corrosion), lead-free photovoltaics with high conversion efficiencies, optical information-processing, batteries, semiconductors (processing; materials for next-generation electronics and solar cells), lasers for optoelectronics, ultra-lightweight structural materials for aerospace applications, and advanced dental porcelain.

Materials researchers please note:  The PED Editor, custom software developed by NIST staff, is available for free download (at NIST SRD31) and can be used 1) to digitize phase diagrams and 2) to extract data from phase diagrams or other two‐dimensional scientific drawings. 

SRD31 Version 5.2 is available for purchase as a PC product from NIST and also as an online subscription from the American Ceramic Society.  NIST staff and Associates with computers having NIST IP addresses (Gaithersburg and Boulder) can access SRD31 online free of charge at Phase Online.   

Interested parties outside of NIST can download a free demonstration version of SRD 31 in lieu of purchasing the PC product (at NIST SRD31).  In addition to displaying the full functionality of the application, this free version includes a comprehensive, searchable cumulative index of all materials systems covered in the contents of the database, including the new content added in this release.