What is XrF?
drew on Jan 12th, 2009Many people have asked us what this X-ray Fluorescence (XrF) thing is really. Here is a brief answer to that question.
XrF is a scientific technique based on a basic fact of nature- every element in this universe of ours sends back an echo- but a personally modified echo- of any X-ray that hits it. (XrF geeks say “an X-ray that impinges on the sample”- it makes them sound smart.) Each element sends back a different X-ray!
That means that Lead sends back a different energy X-ray than, say, Cadmium. Sounds simple enough. If we shoot some X-rays at a sample we want to identify, and look at the energies of the X-rays coming back, we should be able to tell the difference between various elements- this is actually pretty cool!
There is some fine print- it doesn’t work well on light elements, since they respond with less X-rays, and the ones that come back are hard to see. So essentially this technique is best for INORGANIC materials only- if you look at our old friend from high school, the periodic table, it is organized by weight. That means we see most of the stuff on the table, generally anything heavier than, say Phosphorus. There are things you can do to see the lighter elements- get the air out from between you sample and the instrument, for instance, so those X-rays coming back aren’t absorbed by the air, and a few other tricks. This will let you see Aluminum, Magnesium, and the like.
Over the last 5 decades XrF has evolved from a specialty lab device in a few national labs, to what we now make which is a palm-sized, industrial device. Anyone can use it, and it answers some important questions people are asking these days- “what is this stuff?”, “did my supplier send me the right thing?”, “why is this material not working in the process?”, and similar sorts of wonderings.
We can answer those questions quickly and easily- and with our new instrument, you can do it more cheaply, and with more useful information, than ever before.
If you have more questions, give us a call, we are happy to answer questions, and we look forward to working with you to answer your materials questions!
