Determination of the distribution of elements in a low-Z matrix with the use of microbeam x-ray fluorescence spectrometry

✍ Scribed by Dariusz Wȩgrzynek; Barbara Hołyńska; Jerzy Ostachowicz

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 947 KB
• Volume: 28
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0049-8246
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-4539(199907/08)28:4<209::aid-xrs335>3.0.co;2-y

✦ Synopsis

Microbeam x-ray fluorescence spectrometry was applied to the quantitative elemental mapping of elements and to the examination of the homogeneity of the elemental distribution in polymer samples. The measurements were performed with an energy-dispersive x-ray fluorescence microbeam spectrometer utilizing capillary optics. The spatial resolution of the spectrometer set-up was about 50 µm. To obtain the local concentrations of elements in polymer foils, a method employing scattered primary radiation from an Mo x-ray tube was utilized. Also, a procedure was developed to characterize, in a quantitative way, the homogeneity of the distribution of the element admixtures introduced into the polymer matrix. This procedure allows the estimation of a minimum representative sample mass, which has to be considered in order to perform a bulk analysis of a given element.