Abstract

Industrial analytical laboratories often receive a wide variety of specimens that require elemental determinations. For solid samples, x-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF) is frequently the method of choice. One usually prepares solid samples, such as alloys, for XRF analysis by cutting pieces from bulk solids to fit into the sample holder. A usual requirement for XRF is that the specimen have a flat, smooth surface. Irregularly shaped specimens are not always amenable to direct analysis. If part of the sample already has a flat area, it can be analyzed with the use of a mask or a selected area aperture. Small fragments can be analyzed by the use of beam collimation or a pinhole aperture. Although masking or beam collimation methods can be used, often they are not practical because of reduced intensity, which leads to excessive analysis times. The effective specimen area must be the same for both standards and unknowns.

Modeling of light scattering by irregularly shaped particles using a ray-tracing method

M. Bottlinger and H. Umhauer
Appl. Opt. 30(33) 4732-4738 (1991)

Quantitative analysis of energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy based on machine learning and a generative data enhancement technique

Wei Zhao, Xianyun Ai, and Hui Zhao
Appl. Opt. 62(36) 9476-9485 (2023)

Quantitative x-ray phase-contrast imaging using a single grating of comparable pitch to sample feature size

Kaye S. Morgan, David M. Paganin, and Karen K. W. Siu
Opt. Lett. 36(1) 55-57 (2011)

Quantitative predictions in small-animal X-ray fluorescence tomography

Kian Shaker, Jakob C. Larsson, and Hans M. Hertz
Biomed. Opt. Express 10(8) 3773-3788 (2019)

Sampling, Mixing, and Grinding Techniques in the Preparation of Samples for Quantitative Analysis by X-Ray Diffraction and Spectrographic Methods*1

James W. Ballard, H. I. Oshry, and H. H. Schrenk
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 33(12) 667-675 (1943)