Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-pjpqr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-30T13:33:14.738Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Applications of a Portable Radioisotope X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometer to Analysis of Minerals and Alloys*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 March 2019

J. R. Rhodes  and
T. Furuta
J. R. Rhodes
Affiliation:
Texas Nuclear Corporation Austin, Texas
T. Furuta
Affiliation:
Texas Nuclear Corporation Austin, Texas
Get access

Abstract

A portable, battery-operated X-ray fluorescence analyzer weighing 15 lb is described, consisting of a Nal(Tl) scintillation-counter probe and an electronic unit with a single-channel pulse-height analyzer and reversible scaler. Radioisotope X-ray sources are used for excitation of the sample and, where necessary, balanced filters for resolution of neighboring characteristic X-rays. Emphasis has been placed on designing and producing an instrument that is easy and convenient to operate in laboratory, factory, or field conditions and that can equally well be used to measure extended surfaces, such as rock faces, or finite samples in the form of powders, briquettes, or liquids. The feasibility of the following analyses has been studied by using for each determination the appropriate radioisotope source and filters: sulfur in coal; calcium and iron in cement raw mix; copper in copper ores; and vanadium, chromium, molybdenum, and tungsten in steels. Detection limits, based on counting statistics obtained in count times of 10 to 100 sec, range from 0.03% for copper in ores to 0.2% for sulfur in coal. Both matrix absorption and enhancement effects were encountered and were eliminated or reduced substantially by suitable choice of source energy, by the use of nomograms, or by semiempirical correction factors based on attenuation or scattering coefficients.

Type
Research Article
Information
Advances in X-Ray Analysis , Volume 11: Sixteenth Annual Conference on Applications of X-ray Analysis, August 9-11, 1967 , 1967 , pp. 249 - 274
Copyright
Copyright © International Centre for Diffraction Data 1967

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

Work supported by the United States Atomic Energy Commission, Division of Isotopes Development.

References

1. Rhodes, J. R., “Radioisotope X-Ray Spectrometry—A Review,” Analyst 91: 683, 1966.Google Scholar
2. Bowie, S. H. U., Darnley, A. G., and Rhodes, J. R., “Portable Radioisotope X-Ray Fluorescence Analyzer,” Tram. Inst. Mining Met. 74: 361, 1965.Google Scholar
3. Rhodes, J. R., Packer, T. W., and Boyce, I. S., “Rapid X-Ray Analysis of Copper Alloys and Steels using a Radioisotope Portable Analyzer,” in: Radioisotope Instruments in Industry and Geophysics, I, International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, 1966, p. 127.Google Scholar
4. Darnley, A. G. and Leamy, C. C., “The Analysis of Tin and Copper Ores using a Portable Radioisotope X-Ray Fluorescence Analyzer,” in: Radioisotope Instruments in Industry and Geophysics, I, International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, 1966, p. 191.Google Scholar
5. Niewodniczanski, J., “Analysis of Copper Ores in Mine Conditions by X-Ray Fluorescence Induced by Isotope Sources,” in: Radioisotope Instruments in Industry and Geophysics, I, International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, 1966, p. 173.Google Scholar
6. Karttunen, J. O., Evans, H. B., Henderson, D. J., Markovich, P. J., and Niemann, R. L., “A Portable Fluorescent X-Ray Instrument Utilizing Radioisotope Sources,” Anal. Chem. 36: 1277, 1964.Google Scholar
7. Karttunen, J. O. and Henderson, D. J., “An Improved Portable Fluorescent X-Ray Instrument Using Radioisotope Excitation Sources,” Anal. Chem. 37: 307, 1965.Google Scholar
8. Trombka, J. I., Adler, I., Schmadebeck, R., and Lamothe, R., “Non-Dispersive X-Ray Emission Analysis for Lunar Surface Geochcmical Exploration,” NASA Kept. No. X-641-66-344, Goddard Space Flight Center, 1966.Google Scholar
9. Cameron, J. F. and Rhodes, J. R., “Filters for Energy Selection in Radioisotope X-Ray Techniques,” in: G. L. Clark (ed.), Encyclopedia of X-Rays and Gamma Rays, Reinhold, New York, 1963, p. 387.Google Scholar
10. Kirkpatrick, P., “On the Theory and Use of Ross Filters,” Rev. Sci. Instr. 10; 186, 1939; 15 : 223, 1944.Google Scholar
11. Boonstra, E. G., “Statistical Considerations in the Design of Balanced X-Ray Filters,” J. Sci. Instr. 42: 563, 1965.Google Scholar
12. Rhodes, J. R., “Optimization of Excitation and Detection Techniques for Analysis of Silver Ores by Radioisotope X-Ray Spectrometry,” in: P. S. Baker (ed.) Second Symposium on Low- Energy X-atui Gamma Sources and Applications, Austin, Texas, 1967, Vol. I, p. 442.Google Scholar
13. Spielberg, N., “Characteristics of Flow Proportional Counters for X-Rays,” in: J. B. Ncwkirk and G. R. Mallett (eds.), Advances in X-Ray Analysis, Vol. 10, Plenum Press, New York, 1967, p. 534.Google Scholar
14. Sanford, P. W. and Culhane, J. L., “The Stability of X-Ray Proportional Counters Under Extreme Operating Conditions,” in: P. S. Baker (ed.), Second Symposium on Low-Energy Xand Gamma Sources and Applications, Austin Texas, 1967, Vol. I, p. 376.Google Scholar
15. Rhodes, J. R., Daglish, J. C., and Clayton, C. G., “A Coal Ash Monitor with Low Dependence on Ash Composition,” in: Radioisotope Instruments in Industry and Geophysics, I, International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, 1966, p. 447.Google Scholar
16. Dunne, J. A. and Nickle, N. L., “Balanced Filters for the Analysis of Al, Si, K, Ca, Fe and Ni,” in: P. S. Baker (ed.), Second Symposium on Low-Energy X- and Gamma Sources and Applications, Austin, Texas, 1967, Vol. I, p. 336.Google Scholar
17. Rhodes, J. R., Ahier, Thelma G., and Pooie, D. O.. “Analysis of Zinc and Copper Ores by Radioisotope X-Ray Fluorescence,” U.K. At. Energy Authority Res. Group Rept. AERE R4474, 1954.Google Scholar