X-Ray Fluorescence Spectroscopy (XRF) Explained - Elemental Analysis Technique

[@arnaudleclef2021]

Dude, I've been focusing on my synthesis for days... thx to you, I understood in less than 7 minutes. THANKS A LOT!

[@CaptainCorrosion]

And all it took was a full month of effort from my side xD

[@arnaudleclef2021]

@@CaptainCorrosion Worth, definitely :-)

[@pandas11977]

really good explanation. But background music was really annoying and distracting.

[@vineetasaini3708]

Very nice...the best part was you actually showed how sample is analysed....how sample is put etc...if possible make a vedio showing analysis of forensic samples using Fluorescent microscopy

[@annyrodrigues2314]

Excellent. Now I got how both XRF set ups work.

[@CaptainCorrosion]

Thanks! Aiming to do more videos about materials characterization techniques in the future =)

[@controllerofexaminationsrg6365]

Sir, elemental concentration is explained in the video. How can oxide compounds in a sample be determined? Please explain how to find % of compound in a sample by WD XRF.

[@marskriegsgott9979]

You explain it very good to me because I am sitting in this moment over my chemistry book ^^

[@CaptainCorrosion]

Thanks! Maybe its because a materials scientist is better in explaining materials characterization with physical methods than a chemistry book written by a chemist :D

[@AmrMohamed-kj5fe]

very useful thanks so much i have some questions please how does the coating films affects the test, and how can identify the coating material and the material itself separably also how does the heat treated material affects the study and the test outputs thank you again

[@mjmeternal2696]

Nice presentation. How do I move from mass% to mg/kg?

[@shamerina2468]

that dramatic music tho!! Thanks bud

[@CaptainCorrosion]

You are welcome! And thanks for watching too!

[@meowsaidthecat5338]

it's a surface analysis technique - for 'accurate' elemental analysis of composition I would still prefer ICP-MS/OES.

[@saljatahiraj9713]

Background music is super distracting, had to try to focus on reading lips in order to understand you. Otherwise very well made, love the animations.

[@CaptainCorrosion]

I would have turned on the subtitles but then again I also don't mind if people pay extra attention and even read my lips when I speak wisdom xD

[@hazuusan]

Very informative video. The background music was very good too! May I ask the name of the song that played during the demonstration?

[@mohals2637]

Useful explanation and great job

[@CaptainCorrosion]

Thanks for the positive feedback - we really appreciate it as it takes a lot of effort to create such videos!

[@ut1004bp]

I was curious how your method/system was able to detect and assign percentages for Carbon and Oxygen too?

[@CaptainCorrosion]

Hello and thank you for the excellent question. We get Kalpha radiation from both carbon and oxygen when we excite these elements with sufficiently energetic x-ray radiation. So if we can detect these and distinguish them, then we can calculate their concentration based on the intensity of the peaks. In ED-XRF (or EDX in SEM) the measurement of low Z elements is indeed troublesome and less accurate (sometimes even impossible) but in this case we used WD-XRF, where peaks are narrower and measurement more precise. Anyhow the intensity of the peaks is compared with ones in the database or measured separately for a reference that has a known composition.

[@MICROANALYTIK]

CAN YOU EXPLAIN WHAT ALGORITHUM USED IN ELEMENTAL ANAKYSIS ED XRF

[@marvinmacasil2734]

Can the X-ray fluorescence gun be programmed so much so that the actual result is manipulated to appear as it is more than or less than the actual amount present?

[@antonio.scalia]

genial. Cuanta energía consume desde el inicio hasta el termino de una prueba?

[@DrEhrfurchtgebietend]

How do you go from the counts to the mass percentage? Is the count rate proportional to the composition or do different elements have a different dimension rate?

[@arjunrock44]

Could you please make a vedio on x-ray tube insulation test procedure using 1Kv megger along with technical reason for each step

[@TheEtbetween]

Is the hand ones accurate. And whats the average cost for hand held. Thanks

[@lelearmi6186]

Hello . to whom to turn to discover the metallic composition of an unknown alloy? and how much would it cost me?

[@CaptainCorrosion]

For business related questions you can contact us through our website: captaincorrosion.com/

[@karlswanson95]

Was just wondering if this technology could be used to sort a slurry into that which contains gold particles and that which does not. If you are only interested in one element analysis should be quicker.

[@CaptainCorrosion]

Please contact us with this question on our company website and I'll see if we can do the analysis project - captaincorrosion.com

[@fizixkhan7460]

and what should be the min size and dimensions of sample for this test?

[@CaptainCorrosion]

It depends on the device you use. In a modern WD-XRF you can actually choose which surface area you can study by placing the sample on the holder with an appropriately sized hole. Essentially you will need a flat area of about 5 mm diameter on a sample minimum to get reasonable results. Ideally you would like to go for larger surfaces though - like a plate with 50 mm diameter.

[@alfonsocanales7210]

is it posible to take a measurement value and put it on a totally different program for PC?? or is it posible to create an interface between a PC program and the machine or a PLC and the machine??

[@CaptainCorrosion]

Hello and thank you for the question! Normally there are various options on modern XRF systems to extract the data as they are already computer controlled. For instance, you can transfer the spectrum data to an excel file and build the graphs as you see fit - the available options really depend on the system.

[@alfonsocanales7210]

yes, actually that what we do at my job. we use Excel, but, the thing is. I'm working on an improvement project. we need to use this kind of machines to make an automated process and no one is supossed to type or copy anything. that machine is supossed to send a measurement value as a feedback for our system. if you know something about this or if you can tell me where can I find more information, I'll apreciate that, honestly!! thanks for your answer and for your video

[@CaptainCorrosion]

I see, in that case I recommend you do what I'd do. Get a computer science (IT specialized in hardware + programming) student who is already competent enough to solve this problem and doesnt charge much money. If necessary, include a more experienced IT guy as a supervisor.

[@maikomartins8979]

@@alfonsocanales7210 I'm from Brazil and I have to do some automation work too, did you manage to do yours?

[@keepsmiling1141]

very nice.....but how xrf is diff from XRD, EPMA and SEM?

[@CaptainCorrosion]

Hello! XRF used primary X-ray radiation to generate secondary characteristic X-ray radiation in the sample and by detecting this characteristic X-ray radiation, we get to know about the elemental composition of the sample. In XRD we study how X-ray radiation scatters from different planes of atoms in a crystalline sample - by scanning through a range of angles - basically with XRD we get to know about the crystal structure of the sample. In SEM with electron probe microanalysis we excite the sample atoms with accelerated electrons and detect the resulting characteristic X-ray radiation.

[@keepsmiling1141]

@@CaptainCorrosion Thanks A lot Sir :) :)

[@sektor2001]

Hey. Very nice video. Can you please tell me how much would a machine like the one you're presenting costs ? It certainty looks expensive !

[@CaptainCorrosion]

Thanks for the question. The prices are usually available only for serious customers when you ask a company - so its sort of a secret that is kept from mere mortals :D However, i'd say that hand-held ED-XRF devices could be in the range of 30 000 to 40 000 € and a laboratory WD-XRF in the range of 200 000 to 500 000. The price can vary a lot though and the examples that I brought are estimates around some examples that I know.

[@rahatqadeer4400]

WD - XRF Zetium 2019 , Nederlands .. My Dear Captain , I wanna know about the accuracy of this machine as I have sent some special Rock Samples to a Lab having this machine . Your reply Will be a source of immense satisfaction my Dear

[@dudldikr6090]

Great video thank you so much! But I think the exiting music in the background makes it a litte hard to focus some times;)

[@lwazimahlalela945]

Hi. Can anyone assist with how to optimize PHA on a Rigaku XRF, Primus IV

[@ProductofWit]

So after the element loses its inner shell electron, how does the entire element (not the inner shell) get its electron back?

[@CaptainCorrosion]

Hello Bernharde and thank you for watching our video! If an atom loses an electron, then it is in an excited state as long as it can steal back an electron from somewhere. In most cases we are dealing with bulk materials and therefore there are plenty of other electrons nearby. Also, the photoelectron that leaves the atom, gets absorbed in the same surrounding material in most cases. The relaxation process of an atom however is quite a sophisticated event as there are numerous ways how it can happen. For instance, if an inner shell electron is removed, then the relaxation process can initiate by filling the vacant spot by any electron that has a lower binding energy in that atom. The excess energy is each time released either as characteristic x-rays or it is transferred to an outer shell electron, which leaves the atom as an Auger electron. This means that multiple electron transitions can happen during the relaxation process and when studying bulk materials it all comes down to statistics which shows the generated signal of various intensities in the spectrum - higher intensity peaks represent relaxation processes that were more likely to happen. Now, if this ionization happens to gas molecules at a very low pressure, then these molecules undergo relaxation up to a point where inner shell vacant spots are all filled and only outer shells miss electrons, which means that the molecule remains in an ionized state until it can find an electron from somewhere else.

[@ProductofWit]

Great explanation of the physics at play in a nutshell. Thank you.

[@CaptainCorrosion]

You are welcome!

[@sidewaysfcs0718]

Your question is actually very important for XPS (X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy), this tehnique uses x-rays to eject electrons from surfaces completely, and then detect the kinetic energy of the electrons and correlate that to the identity of the atoms inside. The sample actually would get positively charged, but usually it is grounded to Earth (which is actually negatively charged, but at a very low negative potential relative to your sample).

[@kingdarkem]

Interesting....could this wdxrf work for glass powders? Or is there a better machine for that? Also whats the price for a setup?

[@CaptainCorrosion]

It would likely work but sample preparation may be challenging. WD-XRF systems used to be about 300-400k€. ED-XRF systems are much cheaper but not as accurate, especially if peaks overlap.

[@sidneyreed1031]

Would one be able to use this method to measure the elemental composition of the soil, if so, how would you suggest preparing the sample?

[@CaptainCorrosion]

Hi! For that purpose, you will ideally need a WD-XRF system, where the sample is irradiated from the top. In our system the top part of the sample has to be faced down and this means that we have to use a thin polymer film on which the powder sample (soil in your case) would be placed. In any case, the sample should only be dried (preferably at slightly elevated temperatures (40-60C). Soil can also be quite unhomogeneous, so you'll need to mix it up properly - however you might find elements of the mixing system in your sample afterwards so it should be something clearly distinguishable. There are probably several buts that need to be taken into account but you'll find out about them once you start the studies. At start I would recommend a handheld ED-XRF unless you need to measure low contents.

[@sayedsahifa2937]

Nice explanation..keep it up

[@techtimes1985]

Excellent video, which software have you used to make this?

[@simrankaur7608]

Useful Explanation

[@CaptainCorrosion]

Thanks for the positive feedback!

[@gamerandom7448]

Useful information thanks sir

[@jyotibohra9092]

Can we use this for the analysis of metal powder?

[@CaptainCorrosion]

You will get better results from a smoother surface. So you might want to consider pressing the powder into a disk. However, some XRF geometries also allow the study of powders - in that case you need to ensure a smooth surface that is exposed to the exciting X-rays. If the excitation is done from below, then you need to use a thin film to hold the powder. In any case, having a solid disk or pellet pressed from powder is a better option as powder may fly apart when you turn on the vacuum pump.

[@rajdeepdas6098]

Nice and Informative.

[@CaptainCorrosion]

Thanks!

[@venkateshvenky5309]

Please explain how a compound can be detected by XRF

[@CaptainCorrosion]

Well if you know the elements in your compound then you try to measure their ratio by XRF while trying to avoid any unwanted signals that might affect the measurement. Sometimes you also compare the measurement results for several samples to see the difference and this helps in identifying the mystery compound. For instance, if you have traces of mystery material on a bullet, then you do measurement on the primary object and then also on a clean reference bullet. Compare the spectrums and concentrations and voila, someone goes to prison!

[@holmesg195]

Awesome video!

[@CaptainCorrosion]

Thanks for the positive feedback!

[@NellioStyle]

Thanks a lot Captain !

[@ibrahimnazemqader9153]

Great bro

[@ramilparedes9930]

Very helpful

[@omersaeed1383]

Excellent..whole chapter of Skoog just in 6 minutes 👌😂

[@gerrymarkgubantes9872]

what chapter is this on skoog?

[@sriramadhani330]

thank you very much. this video really usefull

[@harouacheali2714]

great job! thank you

[@mohammadasefhossaini7985]

Thanks a lot sir

[@Chemical-Lab]

Really nice! I also have a youtube channel and I can imagine the time you need to make a video like that. I use Blender for animation. How about you?

[@CaptainCorrosion]

We prefer 3ds Max for more complex animations.

[@Sagar-lc7wb]

informative

[@CaptainCorrosion]

Thanks!

[@phantomlord71usa]

lol "LOW COST" Code for an individual user that means you can't afford it. ~$9,000 - $15,000

[@CaptainCorrosion]

That's why scientists write projects and collaborate! And yeah, even companies need to plan the investment very carefully and in most cases they go for a cheaper ED-XRF which is more than enough to satisfy their needs and if needed they seek out a laboratory with a more precise WD-XRF and simply buy a few measurements.

[@meowsaidthecat5338]

Eh, it's a surface analysis technique - for 'accurate' elemental analysis of composition I would still prefer ICP-MS/OES.

[@CaptainCorrosion]

Thanks for watching! We might do a video on ICP-MS in the future as well. And no, XRF is not as surface sensitive as you might think. If you have a rather fresh surface with only tens of nanometers "contaminated" layer then it hardly bothers as the whole signal comes from tens of microns deep of the material. Also it is quick, cheap and non-destructive. About accuracy- well if the composition is critical and you have doubts, then you have to use at least 2 or 3 different methods anyhow. For solid substrates Id use XRF / SEM-EDX + SIMS + XPS myself but every scientist has his/her own favorites and access to a certain set of tools to work with. And yeah, I have found great uses for ICP-MS myself too where other methods are rather useless =)

[@meowsaidthecat5338]

Thanks for replying so soon. I'm actually looking into ways to make it more quantitative - but I come to the conclusion that the technique on its own does not seem adequate enough,not for those questions. Archaeological objects are often not allowed to be 'cleaned', and cleaning with sanding paper/carbon paper/saw can bring contamination. Thank you for the other tips, I will look into it ( I was also thinking of SEM) - the problem may be that the objects are not allowed to be moved. I also read something about monte carlo simulations. While ICP is more precise, the sample itself may be inhomogenous...so it's still a standardized value. So each have their own mishaps. I just do not think XRF should be used as a point-and-get-results solutions for everything, as often the spectra includes nonsense too.

[@ut1004bp]

Interesting, but what is preventing energy loss of these deeper-in-the bulk atom's photons...when these transition energy photons are trying to make it thru the "tens of Microns deep" thick layers, thru to the surface and then to the detector, making it possible to reliably identify the elements in the energy spectra?

[@CaptainCorrosion]

Thanks for the question! With XRF you get an average composition for about 10 microns of a materials top layer and usually its sufficient for quick elemental analysis. And yeah, the deeper the secondary radiation is generated, the less likely it is to come out and reach the detector. The main problems with XRF are mostly related to 1. overlapping peaks (less problematic with WD-XRF + appropriate software) 2. characteristic x-rays generating another x-ray radiation of lower energy (in the case of certain alloys for example) 3. multi-layered materials (need to model a bit so the computer understands from which depth the signal may come from).

[@Hamdyman021]

thanks

[@siv108]

Background music reminds me of a Pokémon battle. Good video otherwise

[@CaptainCorrosion]

Thanks!

[@ibrhmmcht3907]

good

[@seyedmarashi]

the gun x-ray machine and the end of clip is completely different with your spectroscopy machine that you test with coin, the coin x-rayis two way and x-ray gun one way. in fact xray return from your device as you said doing by reflex and xray gun completely different operation have. how ever, thank for your clip hope to show more item result and let know the result print directly coming from machine and his application or need more element to do by other device or machine to have result percentage thanks seyed

[@CaptainCorrosion]

The hand held analyzer is obviously an energy dispersive XRF while for laboratory applications both EDXRF and WDXRF are widely used. In the current video however I used WDXRF to measure the elemental composition of the coin.

[@seyedmarashi]

exact question is your printer connected to which device? Computer or x-ray machine. result directly print from wdxrf or need some change? seyed

[@CaptainCorrosion]

Hello! A computer is used to run the XRF with a specific software. The printer is connected to the computer.

[@seyedmarashi]

ok, and last point is how computer connected to XRF machine and what client software connect to machine over which media?(what is application name? it is calculate automatically? )

[@CaptainCorrosion]

Hello! Similarly to other modern devices, the spectrometer is connected to the computer by USB. Since the spectrometer is produced by Rigaku, we use their software. Assigning elements to the peaks in the spectrum can be done automatically but the operator always needs to verify that the assigned elements are the correct ones and if necessary, however adjustments are often required.

[@sollinw]

music is distracting

[@cameronyny]

thank you captain corrosion

[@abdullah900iq]

thx