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 If a piece of information is incorrect, a link outdated, or the presentation choppy or unclear, the user can just click "Edit Page" at the bottom and then fix the mistake.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: Brannerite! (or is it?)
It's either closer to betafite or uranopyrochlore, but sure does not look like brannerite.
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Sent: Monday, February 10, 2020 5:33 AM
To: [email protected] <[email protected]>;
By
WILLIAM S Dubyk
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#758
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Re: Brannerite! (or is it?)
Charles run a gamma spec on this. Note the low energy tail on the U is it possible there is some Th in there? I can¡¯t pick out energies off the jpg post the MCA file.
Dud
Sent: Monday, February
By
Dude
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#757
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Re: Trinitite
Geo,
I agree Geo its busy, confusing and adds nothing. It would be nice to turn off any elements that are not ID¡¯d as It messes up the energy grid lines, and is confusing about what¡¯s actually
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Dude
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#756
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Re: Brannerite! (or is it?)
haha. I've heard stories about the voracity of those rock-shop labels. Hey mineral guys, a question. How common is thorium in USA? Does it always come with U or is it also alone? ThanksGeo>K0FF
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GEOelectronics@...
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#755
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Re: Trinitite
Good, thanks and it looks fine, keep it up. I did my first 24 hour run with Si-PIN in Gamma Scan mode (no XRF exciting from internal or external) on one a weakly radioactive target over the weekend
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GEOelectronics@...
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#754
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Re: Trinitite
OK, guys, I shall have to revisit my sample - gamma spec. It never occured
to me to try XRF with it, but likely need to configure more than one AM-241
pill for that.
Has anyone tried using the old
By
W0LEV
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#753
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Brannerite! (or is it?)
I picked this up yesterday. It was interesting because Brannerite UTi2O6 is
supposed to be high in Ti and less so in Ta and Nb like betafites
(Ca,Na,U)2(Ti, Nb,Ta)2O6Z(OH). However, this specimen
By
Charles David Young
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#752
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Re: Trinitite
Yes, that is correct, George. The heavy black lines are what I consider
firmly identified.
I normally expand the lower region and leave off the Bremsstrahlung and
59.5 peak to the right.
I never
By
Charles David Young
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#751
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Re: Trinitite
Hi A Wally!
What you have is exactly what I have when it comes to 662 etc. Anything over 100 keV and I'm right back on the UCS-20 with a 2X2 Scionix and feel darned lucky to have it.
When you do get
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GEOelectronics@...
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#750
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Edited
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Re: XRF hardware
nice outfit Dud, and I suppose the filters are inside or are they outside, and they are only in the beam path not the sensor path correct?And I know the program expects certain filters as supplied?
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GEOelectronics@...
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#749
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Re: Trinitite
Nice display, the Fe Kb1 line is well placed. Have you expanded the? X-axis to include 59.5 yet?
I'm interpreting the vertical black dotted lines are pretty certain and the lighter, smaller lines are
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GEOelectronics@...
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#748
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Re: Trinitite
I think it depends on what you mean by "meaningful".? I have not tried
XRF of Trinitite, but I have done some Gamma spec on my specimens.? I
have used a Scionix 2x2NaI(Tl) probe with the UCS-20
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AnotherWally
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#747
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Re: XRF hardware
Geo,
The gun is set up w 3 beams 50, 40 , and 15 kV and depending on the mode it can use 5 filters. Filters are in on the 40 and 15 kV shots. Everything can be changed but The current is usually 11
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Dude
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#746
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Re: XRF hardware
Do the guns have adjustable V and current or are they one speed?Geo
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GEOelectronics@...
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#745
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Re: XRF hardware
Geo,
For a full power 50 kV beam shot don¡¯t use a filter. A filter is used to reduce the Brem above an elements absorption edge in order to get a better peak to background signal increasing the
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Dude
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#744
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Re: XRF hardware
On Sun, Feb 9, 2020 at 07:04 PM, <GEOelectronics@...> wrote:
What tube and power supply are you running?
Next up is the LIXI. This company pioneered portable industrial real-time
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GEOelectronics@...
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#743
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Re: XRF hardware
Let's start with the Tel-X-Ometer
These are self-contained X-Ray experiment stations, college level trainers and instrument. It has a 20 kVp/30 kVp switch selectable HV power supply, a hard vacuum
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GEOelectronics@...
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#742
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Re: XRF hardware
"Why are you running external filters?Dud"It's all about the Bremsstrahlung continuum. In the X-Ray tube electrons are accelerated by a HV field, then are slowed down by a target. Notice I didn't
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GEOelectronics@...
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#741
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XRF hardware
What tube and power supply are you running?
Mine is a W side exit window
Why are you running external filters?
Dud
Sent: Sunday, February 9, 2020 12:47 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [XRF] Li
By
Dude
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#740
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Re: Trinitite
Here is my latest best effort with trinitite using Am241 as an exciter.
Only 3 elements really stand out: Fe U Ba. There are other possibilities
such as Sn and Cs but I can't say for sure without a
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Charles David Young
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#739
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