What can you do with XrF?
drew on Jan 13th, 2009Well, I got that question 3 times today. The words were the same, but XrF is many things to many people, so it matters who is asking.
X-ray Fluorescence can “see” any inorganic elements in a sample, which means there are about 70 different elements it can see! So- you can use it to find things that SHOULDN’T be there, like Lead (Pb) in kid’s toys, or Vanadium (V) in effluent or drinking water. You can use it to make sure that what SHOULD be in things IS in there- like Chromium (Cr) in stainless steel, to keep your product from rusting, or Lead in high-reliability electronics to keep them high-reliability. (high-rel will be a post for another day…)
XrF can see very low concentrations of these elements. For the lighter ones, down near Phosphorus, they can find about a percent or so. As you move up in atomic weight, you can get low concentrations as low as 100 parts per million (PPM). So XrF can find Lead in paint, or even the very low levels of Pb that are dangerous in toys.
So- what can XrF do? Any time you need to know what inorganic elements you have, XrF can tell you the answers, quickly and easily.
