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 If a piece of information is incorrect, a link outdated, or the presentation choppy or unclear, the user can just click "Edit Page" at the bottom and then fix the mistake.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: cyrtolite Little Patsy XRF
Charles good calibration on that scan!I see 59.5, was this mineral excited, self excited or both?Geo
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GEOelectronics@...
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#589
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Re: cyrtolite Little Patsy XRF
And here is the last cyrtolite from my collection from Near Pine, CO: https://www.mindat.org/photo-875744.html Compared to the South Platte it has more Y and less Fe. Charles
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Charles David Young
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#588
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2013-14 Ores XRF Using LIXI X-Ray Tube( <50kvP 10 uA) and a high resolution silicon detector.
.mca data on all 16 ores this time as scanned using a LIXI low power, microfocus X-Ray tube. Main setting was 10 microamps, but at sample #Ore-6 I changed the current setting up and down to record any
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GEOelectronics@...
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#587
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2013-14 Ores XRF Using Am_X8 in 22.5 degree setting and a high resolution silicon detector.
.mca of all 16 ores with my first impression identification. Since these were made, I have done very little to investigate them further.. As time allows each one will have it's own topic, as an
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GEOelectronics@...
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#586
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Re: Microlite in Rose Muscovite
Hi Geo, Got Na ? Of course Na is ubiquitous in its many compounds but I have some small samples of the pure element sealed in glass under argon. They are used good, low pressure, 18 W Na vapor lamps.
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Randall Buck
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#585
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Re: Microlite in Rose Muscovite
Thanks Steve.This is a great time to bring this old data (2013) out and discuss the rocks and the different methods of XRF and Gamma Spec, and maybe get some more interesting samples sent in to test
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GEOelectronics@...
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#584
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Re: Microlite in Rose Muscovite
Geo, based upon the picture, the label, association with microlite, and the positive ID of rubidium in the sample, I think it can be safely called a lithium mica, generally known as lepidolite. This
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WILLIAM S Dubyk
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#583
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Microlite in Rose Muscovite
One of the half-dozen or so minerals used in the study to compare various exciters and sensors used for XRF and Gamma Spectrometry. First up is the "Microlite in Rose Muscovite" In one of the Am-X8
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GEOelectronics@...
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#582
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Re: cyrtolite Little Patsy XRF
Charles, malacon is cyrtolite is alvite is zircon. This variety of zircon has been given over a dozen different names in the past, due to the wet chemical analyses that lumped together the zircon and
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WILLIAM S Dubyk
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#581
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Re: cyrtolite Little Patsy XRF
Steve, Here is the cyrtolite malacon from Madagascar vs the cyrtolite from South Platte. It appears to have relatively more Zr and less Fe. Does that comport with malacon? So I guess what you are
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Charles David Young
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#580
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Re: cyrtolite Little Patsy XRF
Charles, it does not work quite that way. Imagine a crystal lattice, in this case zircon. Zircon is made from the cations Zr and Hf, and the anions Si and O. That's it. Cyrtolite, the variety of
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WILLIAM S Dubyk
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#579
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Re: cyrtolite Little Patsy XRF
Steve, What I hear you saying is that if Y is present when cyrtolite is forming then it will be gladly accepted into the structure as xenotime just because it is structurally similar. Does this relate
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Charles David Young
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#578
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Re: cyrtolite Little Patsy XRF
I did the gamma spec on these and frankly the Th is quite dominant in some. I use uranothorite as the standard for comparison. Yes, if the Y gets high enough and P is available it will form inclusions
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WILLIAM S Dubyk
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#577
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Re: cyrtolite Little Patsy XRF
I had not seen this. I'll have to take note: Mineral classification: Euxenite = High Nb+Y Polycrase = High Ti+Y Microlite = High Ta+Ca Yes the Platte is what you called the star twin. It is really
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Charles David Young
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#576
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Re: cyrtolite Little Patsy XRF
Pretty interesting data, folks. U is generally higher in zircon than Th but the north end of the South Platte is quite different. Other high Th zircons are Mt. Malosa (Malawi) and SW Oklahoma; got
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WILLIAM S Dubyk
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#575
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Re: cyrtolite Little Patsy XRF
Branchville was stopped early once I saw the trend. *REE path finder¡¯s Y & Hf?* Charles
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Charles David Young
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#574
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Re: XRF - comparing Dud's with my Si-PIN
Mel may have it, I will see if I can get it. ________________________________ Sent: Tuesday, January 21, 2020 9:00 AM To: [email protected] <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [XRF] XRF - comparing Dud's with my
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WILLIAM S Dubyk
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#573
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Re: cyrtolite Little Patsy XRF
Charles, here¡¯s the Branchville update. As the gamma spec said, U does lead the Th. Branchville could use a longer count. Assuming everything was kept constant here¡¯s the relative concentration
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Dude
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#572
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Re: cyrtolite Little Patsy XRF
BTW "Cactus Jack" was initially misidentified when Frank gave it to me. He later told me that it is in fact from Vado Ranch. So what makes Vado interesting? Charles
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Charles David Young
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#571
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Re: cyrtolite Little Patsy XRF
Charles, Assuming everything was kept constant here¡¯s the relative concentration for each cyrtolite CpsX1000 Patsy Platt Cactus Zr Kb 5.9 4.4 7.4 Zr Ka 41.2 22.3 47.5 Y 7.5 4.5 11.9 Th 6.9 1.4 1.5
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Dude
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#570
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