XRF Wiki
Welcome to the XRF Wiki. This Wiki is a repository of information contributed by members of [email protected]. Members can view and edit the pages. The pages are currently not viewable by the public. The pages below represent a rough overview of the technology and techniques associated with X-Ray Florescence Spectroscopy as well as serving as a place for members to organize the spectra that they have contributed to the forum.?
As a starting point, the pages will be populated by information taken from member posts from the past few years - with references/attribution. Perhaps in time, these pages can be edited by members to make them more complete and less choppy. Members can also edit this page, making the structure of the content more organized.?
Pages can contain information about a particular topic, links to relevant resources (such as manuals, research papers, etc.), links to relevant forum discussions on the topic, book titles, or anything that might be useful.
What follows is very much a work in progress.
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Adding to the Wiki
For those unfamiliar with the Wiki phenomenon, it is basically a user editable encyclopedia. The idea is that there are pages with different articles, which the user can read and also choose to edit if desired. If a piece of information is incorrect, a link outdated, or the presentation choppy or unclear, the user can just click "Edit Page" at the bottom and then fix the mistake. There is also a "Page History," so if you a user were to make a mistake or maliciously destroy a page (which wouldn't happen here) an editor can come along and restore the page to a previous version.?
If you have used MediaWiki (the engine that runs behind the scene of Wikipedia.org) you will be familiar with a certain style of creating an article. There are tags that one uses to change the formatting of the parts of the article. The Wiki on Groups.io uses a different background engine and so the standard MediaWiki syntax does not apply here. Rather, the page is edited using the same tools as one would use to compose a message on the forums. If you are a programmer or someone who likes using the tagged syntax directly, you can access the underlying page source code, be activating the advanced editing toolbar (the icon with three lines on the far right of the basic toolbar) and then clicking on the source code icon <> on the far right of the Advance Editing Toolbar. You will immediately notice that the underlying source code is HTML. Most things can be done just by using the various icons, but advanced features like table can only be implemented by manually writing the source code. (Although there are website available that will generate the source code for you through a graphical interface.)
Here are some useful resources from Groups.io:?
Wiki Guide for Users and Editors
Message Composition Tips and Tricks
Overview of XRF
X-Ray Florescence vs. X-Ray Diffraction
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Hardware
This section describes the hardware used for XRF. We will describe the basic theory of operation of each stage in the processing tool chain and then present different commercial systems that are available as these systems are often integrated together.
[Editor note: General theory needs to be in an independent page separate from specific manufacturer information.
[Editor note - question: Should this be arranged by category, e.g detectors, preamps, etc or by manufacturer with the manufacturers product line on one page. Perhaps it's best to put a list of products with theory but the details of the products on a manufacture page...]
Detectors?- what's available, theory of operation, tradeoffs
Detector Cooling?- keeping detectors cool to avoid thermal noise and keeping the TEC from overheating
Preamps?- theory of operation, brief summary of what out there (and what not to do - such as trying to use a PMT preamp for a SiPIN diode...)
Pulse Processing Theory - high level overview of the stages of going from detector pulse to channel peaks on the computer
Commercial Systems - many commercial systems are integrated so it seems to make sense to present, for example all Amptek products together. [question: are their other affordable integrated systems besides Amptek?]
Amptek XRF System
Activation Sources - what do you use to make the sample fluoresce (that's within the amateur budget and doesn't require special licensing)
Software
- Device Control Software - what do you use to collect the data from the detector system
- XRF Analysis Software - what do you use to analyze the data, especially for quantitative measurements (composition percentages, thin film measurement)
- Free Software Tools
Note: there may be software packages that possess some or all of these characteristics.
Materials Spectra
Metals Spectra
Historic/Archeological Spectra
Reference Materials Spectra
Household Objects Spectra
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Resources
Videos
Articles
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Non-XRF Techniques
Gamma Spectroscopy
Raman Spectroscopy
FTIR - Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy
Atomic Emission Spectroscopy
Inductively Coupled Atomic Emission Spectroscopy
Spark Emission Spectroscopy
Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy
LIBS - Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy
Photoacoustic Spectroscopy
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Re: Trinitite
Charles- Great set of scans of Trinitite XRF! Thanks.? A favor? No rush and only if/when you can. Please rerun same test, same conditions, time,? and sample, but this time no exciter? Let's explore
By
GEOelectronics@...
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#1350
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Re: Trinitite
Validation took a lot of digging:
By
GEOelectronics@...
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#1349
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Re: PyMca software
I agree, you¡¯ll spend more time fooling with settings than it would take to set them manually.
Dud
Sent: Friday, October 9, 2020 10:39 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [XRF] PyMca software
By
Dude
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#1348
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Re: PyMca software
Dud, my learning curve limits concerning computer programs is <3% grade or worse.
By
GEOelectronics@...
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#1347
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Re: PyMca software
By
GEOelectronics@...
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#1346
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Re: Trinitite
Now a try-and-fail for Sr-90 in Trinitite.
First the decay scheme of Sr-90:
Next the % of Sr-90 left and the determination of Sr-90 to stable Zr-90 atoms which must be present:
Only 16.27% Sr-90
By
GEOelectronics@...
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#1345
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Re: Trinitite
While we're still thinking about Steve's metal fragment, here is a scan I did comparing it to one of my own. The filled red scam is Steve's, the black outline scan is the Blob. Inclusions are quite
By
GEOelectronics@...
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#1344
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Re: PyMca software
Yeah this will have a steep learning curve me thinks.
For a better freebee MCA program have a look at
https://www.effemm2.de/spectragryph/
It does Gamma, Optical and XRF spec. the basic program
By
Dude
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#1343
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Re: PyMca software
Geo
Peak search previously on Amptek Dpmcca not successful with no library files.
Since now I know it works,I will check again
Must be doing it incorrectly
Taray
By
taray singh <sukhjez@...>
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#1342
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Re: Trinitite
Relevant information for this topic.
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GEOelectronics@...
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#1341
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Re: PyMca software
Not a problem. Good luck with quantitative analysis work!Did you get your 1-2-3 to run without host computer OK?By the way there is a "Library" function in DPPMCA that allows entered peak regions to
By
GEOelectronics@...
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#1340
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Re: PyMca software
GeoWas not aware of Win32 issues?I used Win8 64 bit ..easy installation?Taray
By
taray singh <sukhjez@...>
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#1339
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Re: PyMca software
for any other surviving WIN 32 bit dinosaurs, old version loads OK:http://pymca.sourceforge.net/download.html
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GEOelectronics@...
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#1338
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Re: PyMca software
So far only downloads for PyMCA WIN64-I need WIN32!
By
GEOelectronics@...
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#1337
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Re: PyMca software
Interesting! Will look at it, but will also need help.
Geo
To: [email protected]
Sent: Friday, October 9, 2020 7:55:45 AM
Subject: [XRF] PyMca software
Free software for quantitative xrf
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GEOelectronics@...
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#1336
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PyMca software
Free software for quantitative xrf analysis
Compatible with Dppmca Amptek software.The software opens Dppmca file.
Only problem it is not first order calibration
So I cannot proceed beyond a
By
taray singh <sukhjez@...>
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#1335
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Re: Trinitite
Hi Dave. Join the conversation- If you haven't already, download the free? DPPMCA program from AMptek, load it then you can download the .mca files we
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GEOelectronics@...
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#1334
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Re: Trinitite
OK, guys, what do I have to do to get into this high-res XRF world? I've
got the Am-241. How much and where for the good detector? And what dies it
take? It's only a 'maybe' in considering the slim
By
W0LEV
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#1333
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Re: Trinitite
closeup of one edge of the "Blob".
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GEOelectronics@...
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#1332
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Re: Trinitite
I agree. There's a lot of iron there, very little else, 1930's tech "steel". These were not atomized, but fragmented from a structural section, probably very near to the gadget, like the tower. Just a
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GEOelectronics@...
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#1331
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