Elemental identification of document paper by X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XFS) (CAT#: STEM-ST-0228-WXH)

XRF describes the process where some high-energy radiation excites atoms by shooting out electrons from the innermost orbitals. When the atom relaxes, that is, when outer electrons fill inner shells, X-Ray fluorescence radiation is emitted.

XRF is widely used as a fast characterization tool in many analytical labs across the world, for applications as diverse as metallurgy, forensics, polymers, electronics, archaeology, environmental analysis, geology and mining.

1. Primary X-rays knock out an electron from one of the orbitals surrounding the nucleus within an atom of the material.
2. A hole is produced in the orbital, resulting in a high energy, unstable configuration for the atom.
3. To restore equilibrium, an electron from a higher energy, outer orbital falls into the hole. Since this is a lower energy position, the excess energy is emitted in the form of fluorescent X-rays.
The energy difference between the expelled and replacement electrons is characteristic of the element atom in which the fluorescence process is occurring – thus, the energy of the emitted fluorescent X-ray is directly linked to a specific element being analyzed.

XRF spectrometer (including X-ray source, sample chamber, analysing crystal, detector and signal processing computer)