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 If a piece of information is incorrect, a link outdated, or the presentation choppy or unclear, the user can just click "Edit Page" at the bottom and then fix the mistake.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 with a view
Dud, here are the .mca files along with another one that I did of Nb last
night. I would be interested in seeing what calibration points you can
come up with. These were scanned on different days.
By
Charles David Young
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#914
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Re: Si-PIN with a view
I agree the library is sparse and it doesn¡¯t have both La,b and Ka,b In one library. The auto peak search routine sucks on noisy data and is hard to tweak. Its best to set ROI¡¯s manually once
By
Dude
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#913
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Re: Si-PIN with a view
"Dud, I made a special decluttered plot just for you. And in the process I discovered that the SmKa1 peak that I had previously identified is actually CeKb2 so this Ce metal is actually a little
By
GEOelectronics@...
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#912
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Re: Si-PIN with a view
Charles and Dud, The DPP Libraries are too general, causing confusion and miss labeling a lot. I've been making specialty .lib files with special combinations of elements, XRF lines and Gamma lines.
By
GEOelectronics@...
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#911
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Re: Si-PIN with a view
That plot looks much better!
Send me both mca files. I¡¯m not sure I understand what you¡¯re doing here with the cals. The original cal was
293 3.151
2031 22.163
Your new one is
2955
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Dude
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#907
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Re: Si-PIN with a view
Ok, so the deal is that using AgKa1 as one of the points on the E cal line
is not very accurate by the time it gets up to CeKa1 so the peak finder in
DppMCA assumed that peak was BaKa1. Use these cal
By
Charles David Young
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#906
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Re: Si-PIN with a view
Charles,
Check your ¡°slider¡± calibration. This is Ba not Ce. Go back to the .mca file and look at it with the original cal using the DppMCA program. It looks like you used Ag for a cal but when
By
Dude
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#904
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Re: Si-PIN with a view
On Wed, Mar 4, 2020 at 7:28 AM <GEOelectronics@...> wrote:
> Ce metal?
>
> Interesting, make a photo of it?
>
> Thanks Charles,
>
> Geo>K0FF
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Charles
By
Charles David Young
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#903
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Re: Si-PIN with a view
Ce metal?Interesting, make a photo of it?Thanks Charles,Geo>K0FF
By
GEOelectronics@...
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#902
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Re: Si-PIN with a view
Steve,
This is from Gunnar Faerber who did his own analysis. He is also the one
that identified the Betafo speciman as
By
Charles David Young
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#901
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Re: Si-PIN with a view
Charles, who did you get your specimen of ishikawaite from, and do you have a microprobe analysis for it? The reason I ask is that out of curiosity I looked at some of the samarskite analyses from the
By
WILLIAM S Dubyk
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#900
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Re: Anlyzing and comparing Trinitite samples.
This chart is from an article (attributed below) showing the mass spectrometer analysis of ordinary Trinity area desert sand contains 0.62% FeO and only 0.02% SrO in its natural
By
GEOelectronics@...
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#899
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Re: Zircon- Malawi vs Sri Lanka
Geo
Yes
X-rays are dangerous
Need a license
Only use minimally
Taray
By
taray singh <sukhjez@...>
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#898
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Re: Zircon- Malawi vs Sri Lanka
"Do you ground ur any of ur electrodes ?"That would be a question better for BELLJAR GROUP I think. Personally I use a commercial exciter, it is very safe in every respect, the HV is generated inside
By
GEOelectronics@...
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#897
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Re: Zircon- Malawi vs Sri Lanka
To all, NEVER TRY TO MEASURE HV going to a X-Ray tube with a meter...¡...DANGEROUS to do so.Instead look at the beam with a sensor, with a collimator between (cover the sensor with a lead Pb sheet
By
GEOelectronics@...
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#896
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Re: Zircon- Malawi vs Sri Lanka
No I mean measure the beam itself with your sensor. Look at the Bremsstrahlung bump. Where it ends is the max HV, very easy, but reduce sensitivity of the probe with Pb and a tiny hole, like a
By
GEOelectronics@...
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#895
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Re: Zircon- Malawi vs Sri Lanka
Geo
My multimeter max is 1000ohm
Theoretically for HV measurements ,If I place a 1000 ohm resistor in series with my sensor,I should be able to ..
Potential danger of arcing and inexperience is
By
taray singh <sukhjez@...>
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#894
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Re: Zircon- Malawi vs Sri Lanka
Geo
My setup HV is fixed at about 30 kvp.
So I do not measure it.
Do you ground ur any of ur ?electrodes ?
Taray
By
taray singh <sukhjez@...>
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#893
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Re: Zircon- Malawi vs Sri Lanka
Hi Taray, are you measuring your HV to the exciter?You can do it with your sensor, just put a thin lead shield with a small hole between.Geo
By
GEOelectronics@...
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#892
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Re: Zircon- Malawi vs Sri Lanka
This is something to share
By
taray singh <sukhjez@...>
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#891
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