Analytical Sciences

Identification of Glass and Ceramics by X-ray Fluorescence Analysis with a Pyroelectric X-ray Generator

Hiroyuki IDA*^,** and Jun KAWAI*

*Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Kyoto University, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan
**Forensic Science Laboratory, Kyoto Pref. Police H.Q., Kamigyo-ku, Kyoto 602-8550, Japan

Applications of X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis with a pyroelectric X-ray generator are presented. Glass and ceramics were analyzed with this novel X-ray generator to examine its capability for analyzing nonmetallic inorganic material. Although the power of X-ray output was a few orders of magnitude lower than conventional X-ray tubes, many elements such as Si, K, Ca, Ti, Cr, Fe, Zn, Sr, Ba, and Pb were detected in glass and ceramic samples. Light elements such as Na, Mg, and Al were not detected because of the low fluorescence yield and the absorption of fluorescent X-rays in air. The elements detected or the relative peak intensities of the elements were different from each other, and the samples analyzed were identified by the XRF spectrum, notwithstanding the low power of the X-ray output. This novel device showed the sufficient capability for preliminary screening before strict identification of analytes. The pyroelectric X-ray generator can also be used to analyze large samples that cannot be put into ordinary XRF spectrometers because the device has no dimensional limitation of analytes.

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