ACCURACY EVALUATION OF RESULTS OBTAINED BY FUNDAMENTAL PARAMETER METHOD IN X-RAY FLUORESCENCE SPECTROMETRY*

Accuracy of the results determined using the fundamental parameter method was evaluated in X-Ray fluorescence spectrometry. In the case of homogeneous bulk specimens, the agreements between the inter-element correction factors obtained experimentally and calculated by the fundamental parameter method were excellent. In the analysis of unhomogeneous alloys such as the precipitation hardening type and duplex type alloys, the use of one or two multielement standards was recommended to obtain accurate results by the fundamental parameter method. The effects of the uncertainty of the mass attenuation coefficients obtained from literature on the error of the results calculated by the fundamental parameter method were negligibly small in the analysis of homog eneous bulk alloys. The composition and the mass thickness of a permalloy thin film on iron substrate were simultaneously determined using pure bulk standards by the fundamental parameter method. The interaction of X-rays between the thin film and the substrate was fully calculated.