A new approach to quantitative X-ray microfluorescence analysis of individual particles

In the x-ray microfluorescence analysis of particles, the characteristic line intensity depends not only on the chemical composition of the sample, but also on the x-ray beam profile, particle size, shape and orientation. In previous work, optical measurements of particle dimensions were required to develop parametric equations for correction of both particle size and interelement effects. In that work the measurement of particle dimensions was limited in accuracy by the optical system used. A different approach here is described in which an estimate of the size of an irregularly shaped particle is obtained indirectly. This technique is particularly useful for the analysis of particles in which the concentrations of low atomic number elements are known or can be obtained from stoichiometry. This procedure has been tested with irregularly shaped, homogeneous glass particles of known composition and size ranging from 50–150 μm using an x-ray microbeam 177 μm in diameter. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.