GGR Handbook of Rock and Mineral Analysis Chapter 6 (Part 2) Principles and Practice of X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometry – 2: Wavelength Dispersive and Energy Dispersive Instrumentation

Abstract

This chapter (Principles and Practice of X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometry – 2: Wavelength Dispersive and Energy Dispersive Instrumentation) is a contribution to the Geostandards and Geoanalytical Research Handbook of Rock and Mineral Analysis – an online textbook that is a fully revised and updated edition of A Handbook of Silicate Rock Analysis (P. J. Potts, 1987, Blackie, Glasgow).

Chapter 6, Part 2 (from Section 2 of the handbook devoted to techniques for the determination of major and trace elements) deals with XRF wavelength dispersive and energy dispersive spectrometry. Dealing first with WD-XRF, Part 2 discusses its instrumentation, spectrum analysis and routine operating conditions. The following sections on ED-XRF discuss its detectors and their characteristics,  the associated (pulse-processing) electronics, and X-ray interaction with these detectors. Consideration is then given to procedures for ED-XRF spectra analysis, as well as its analysis of silicate rock and mineral materials under routine operating conditions. Further sections cover total reflection XRF (TRXRF) and field portable (PXRF) instrumentation, and statistical procedures relevant to XRF analysis. The chapter also includes a comparison of the WD and ED spectrometer types and of their analytical performance, with emphasis on silicate rock analysis.