A near-ambient-temperature-control cell for use with synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction

A low-cost cell has been designed and built for synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction studies of materials with low melting points. The cell has been operated between 253 and 323 K with a temperature stability of better than 0.1 K. The construction of the cell allows free rotation of the sample during a scan in order to maximize the number of powder grains in the reflecting position. The cell has been used to study a transition from an ordered to a rotator phase in hexadecane occurring at 278 K and the results from that study are reported.