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 If a piece of information is incorrect, a link outdated, or the presentation choppy or unclear, the user can just click "Edit Page" at the bottom and then fix the mistake.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: Si-PIN Detector Background?
3600s BG scan running on the one in the chamber- using it's current fine tuned peak value of 4.8us.
Over this winter I'll redo all the element scans from my article on APXS/XRF with the Si-PIN
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GEOelectronics@...
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#1413
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Re: Si-PIN Detector Background?
It would be interesting to see what that same run would look like but using a 4 usec peaking time.
Dud
Sent: Thursday, October 15, 2020 5:08 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [XRF] Si-PIN Detector
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Dude
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#1411
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Re: Supplements exposed
Yes DPPMCA is for a real technician........You can also download the program, but to use it you must buy the code key.Geo
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GEOelectronics@...
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#1410
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Re: Supplements exposed
Geo
I have previously downloaded this Fp software manual.
It helps me understand the limitations of Dpmcca
Taray
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taray singh <sukhjez@...>
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#1409
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Si-PIN Detector Background?
Someone asked about background counts on the Si-PIN detector.
That's always the first thing to test with a new one.? This is a 1 hour scan on SN-18812, no source or X-Rays around, minimal if any
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GEOelectronics@...
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#1408
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Re: Trinitite
Another oldie from 2014. Tower-metal X-Ray Spectrum Analysis (NO EXCITER).
AMPTEK 1-2-3 SDD
SDD has slightly lower energy capability than Si-PIN, and better resolution. The Si-PIN is more
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GEOelectronics@...
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#1407
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Edited
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Re: Trinitite Sub Topic 1 Where's the Uranium?
*Low-Level Determination of Plutonium by Gamma and* *L X-ray Spectroscopy*
*Heino Nitsche, Raymond C. Gatti, Shan C. Lee*
*Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory*
*University of California*
*Earth Sciences
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GEOelectronics@...
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#1406
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Edited
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Re: Supplements exposed
"do see some small peaks on extreme left with my 1024 settings.1.85 is probably silicon escape peak."Si escape peak is below every major photopeak -1.74keV below. Fortunately it is small compared to
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GEOelectronics@...
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#1405
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Re: Supplements exposed
"Hey why don¡¯t you scan ur iron supplements to see what comes out through the container?Taray"It's on the to-do list. Right now researching documents RE: U L-X-Rays.You are fast learner, how long
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GEOelectronics@...
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#1404
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Re: Supplements exposed
I do see some small peaks on extreme left with my 1024 settings.
1.85 is probably silicon escape peak.
Argon not??emphasized yet
I will check out with ur??methods above.
Titanium too maybe in
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taray singh <sukhjez@...>
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#1403
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Re: Supplements exposed
Yes low energy limits on Si-PIN, are you seeing Argon gas in your scans? Comes from air, ionized by alpha particles. Paper filter on exciter helps, also lightweight gas purge, even just a small fan.
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GEOelectronics@...
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#1402
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Re: Supplements exposed
Yes low energy limits on Si-PIN, are you seeing Argon gas in your scans? Comes from air, ionized by alpha particles. Paper filter on exciter helps, also lightweight gas purge, even just a small fan.
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GEOelectronics@...
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#1401
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Re: Supplements exposed
Geo
There are supplements in oxide form.
One example is Magnesium oxide?
Not well absorbed but due to huge Mg load will overcome this obstacle?
Mg??oxide supplements may be friendly to xrf
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taray singh <sukhjez@...>
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#1400
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Re: Supplements exposed
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GEOelectronics@...
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#1399
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Supplements exposed
Hi guys
Drug companies label their supplements by molecular weight of the compound.
So the actual amount of? study element will vary from one compound to another .
For example 100 mg of Zn oxide
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taray singh <sukhjez@...>
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#1398
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Re: XRF of Industrial alloy sheet metal 70 Cu 30 Ni
All good advice Dud.
And I agree, but in Feb 2014 I didn't know that yet.
Thanks for helping us all get from there to here, and there's so far yet to go.
Geo
To: [email protected]
Sent:
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GEOelectronics@...
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#1397
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Re: XRF of Industrial alloy sheet metal 70 Cu 30 Ni
Geo,
What beam current where you using? Based on the dead time (DT) of 25% the current could probably be backed off a bit. Note that most of this DT is dealing with the higher energy counts that
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Dude
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#1396
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Re: XRF of Industrial alloy sheet metal 70 Cu 30 Ni
Same .mca file as above but with the full scan showing on the display.
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GEOelectronics@...
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#1395
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XRF of Industrial alloy sheet metal 70 Cu 30 Ni
This is a sample cut from a piece of sheet metal, the assay printed on it was Cu-70% Ni-30%.
,mca and pics of the scan attached. Later will post pics of setup. Like the pictures indicate - SDD
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GEOelectronics@...
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#1394
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A Penny for your. thoughts or US Cent XRF Fail
XRF of a modern US cent, thin copper over zinc core. One side has the copper removed. XRF of both sides .mca's attached. Exciter = W target tube, @ 50kV / 10 uA
This is a fail because the HV is set
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GEOelectronics@...
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#1392
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