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 If a piece of information is incorrect, a link outdated, or the presentation choppy or unclear, the user can just click "Edit Page" at the bottom and then fix the mistake.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
Refer message 766 and 772
Analyzing Trinitite with emphasis on the Uranium and Neptunium Ly1 peaks.
Preparation; First I did the analysis of Uranium K and L lines mentioned in message #766. Then I
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GEOelectronics@...
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#824
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Edited
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Re: Testing for Cd in Zn Ore.
Geo,
Sphalerite (ZnS) has an affinity to pick up a lot of different impurities. Here in southern Az Cd is common as one of those impurities. Try running some Sphalerites¡¯ and see what you get.
I
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Dude
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#823
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Re: Si pin Detectors
No connection to the eBay seller- but I know the sale for the sensor, sensor cable, and DP5-PC5 PCBs comes in a factory sealed package and the power supply is correctly programmed at the factory for
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GEOelectronics@...
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#822
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Re: Si pin Detectors
Taray,
Just to be clear, I have modified Theremino to import and display the .mca
files that are collected by DppMCA, the Amptek MCA program designed to work
with their hardware. Theremino does not
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Charles David Young
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#821
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Re: Si pin Detectors
Welcome Taray, sorry for the delay in your post showing up, Groups.IO makes the moderator personally approve the first message from every group member. From now on your posts will show up
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GEOelectronics@...
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#820
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Si pin Detectors
Hi guys
I like to get one of those Si pin detectors
There is an eBay seller selling..
Si-PIN (FSJ32MD-G3SP)?detector element with PA230? Preamplifier, 25mm^2, 1 mil Be window for about Us500
It
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taray singh <sukhjez@...>
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#819
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Re: Trinitite
Geo,
That dead time is pretty high. Its best to Set the tube current to keep the dead time around 10% or less than 35K cps. First shot should use full voltage then set the Kv¡¯s to target the
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Dude
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#818
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Re: Trinitite
That makes sense too.Geo
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GEOelectronics@...
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#817
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Re: Trinitite
Some of the barium may be from Baratol, a barium nitrate/TNT mix that what used for the explosive lens for the device. Low velocity stuff.
Steve
________________________________
Sent: Tuesday,
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WILLIAM S Dubyk
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#816
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Re: Trinitite
Now my largest green-glass Trinitite sample tests.
Trying to determine the "best" settings to detect good XRF on the Si-PIN sensor:
This test is XRF by X-Ray tube at different kVp levels and current
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GEOelectronics@...
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#815
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Re: Trinitite
more pics of the metallic Trinitite
This is the first CdTe in its chamber. The "lid" is a lead (Pb) Half-Brick that slides over the opening.
This is a different CdTe, same as the first one, it has
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GEOelectronics@...
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#814
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All natural- U-235 Gamma Spectrum
Pre-WW2 U02 ceramic glaze.
Geo
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GEOelectronics@...
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#813
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Re: Testing for Cd in Zn Ore.
Next a scan of the empty chamber, same parameters but without a sample inside.
Then the empty chamber "background with X-Ray ON" with the actual metal XRF together:
RED is the empty chamber with
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GEOelectronics@...
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#812
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Testing for Cd in Zn Ore.
Thanks to member Steve D. in ALBQ NM for mentioning that Zn ores are also a common source of
Cd.
Testing several species of ore here with the new emphasis on Cd has proved problematic. First the
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GEOelectronics@...
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#811
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Re: Smithsonite with Uranium
Cd commonly found in zinc ores, in this case probably present as the cadmium carbonate otavite. Zinc ores are the primary source of cadmium. Under UV, it has a very nice red
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WILLIAM S Dubyk
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#810
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Re: UX2-234: Testing this unusual 1" beta check disc.
And UX1 and Ux2 are?Say, you used ROI's for that display. Can you get PEAK SEARCH to do as well?So far I haven't mastered Peak search and don't trust it.Geo
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GEOelectronics@...
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#809
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Re: UX2-234: Testing this unusual 1" beta check disc.
UX2 is a Uranium derived beta source used with a UX1 disk to determine the solid angle correction factors for an end window beta counter.
Dud
Sent: Sunday, February 16, 2020 10:40 AM
To:
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Dude
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#808
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Re: Smithsonite with Uranium
Geo,
Big difference. Zn predominant some Fe, Pb, Cd (!) and possibly Cu. Where¡¯s the Uranium?
Dud
Smithsonite 90 sec si-pin dfe.bmp
Sent: Sunday, February 16, 2020 9:58
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Dude
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#807
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Re: UX2-234: Testing this unusual 1" beta check disc.
Anyone familiar with UX2?
Geo
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GEOelectronics@...
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#806
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Re: Smithsonite with Uranium
This was cool. It was still running in the Gamma Spec chamber on the CdTe (no external exciter) so I stopped that count, moved it over to the XRF chamber and did a scan there with X-Ray tube and
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GEOelectronics@...
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#805
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