Expansion of WOT equipment - New X-ray fluorescence spectrometer put into operation
The new acquisition of the X-ray fluorescence spectrometer „M4 TORNADO“ from Bruker at the professorship expands the research possibilities through fast and non-destructive X-ray fluorescence analyses of solids, layers, particles and liquids starting from elements with atomic number 11 (sodium).
The spectrometer is designed for sample characterisation by X-ray fluorescence with a small measuring spot. Its measurements provide information about composition and element distribution, even from volumes below the sample or component surface. The instrument is optimised for high-speed analysis of points, lines and 2D area scans (element maps) of any type of sample, solid or liquid. It can also analyse both inorganic and organic materials. The spectrometer works in a vacuum and thus has the possibility to determine elements from sodium upwards. In the future, the expanded analysis options will improve and accelerate the professorship's research on coated or transformed material surfaces as well as on solid material development and interface analysis. In future, element contents and impurities can be determined quickly and spatially resolved, e.g. on electrolytically deposited Ni/P or FeCrNi alloy layers, thermally sprayed layers, steels or light metal alloys. Great advantages are offered by the reduced measurement times due to the optimised X-ray excitation path and high-throughput detectors, which allow „on the fly“maps with dwell times down to 1 ms. Future samples (with masses up to 7 kg) can be examined non-destructively in the large vacuum chamber over an area of up to 190 × 160 mm² . With an acquisition of up to 40 million pixels in one measurement with complete spectral information and camera image for each pixel, spectra, line scans and mappings, standards-based quantification and layer thickness analysis are made possible. The powerful software also enables the extraction of any object sum spectra (ellipses, rectangles, polygons), the extraction of line profiles, the determination of elements that are only present at individual points and chemical phase analysis.
Image:
View of the workplace of the X-ray fluorescence spectrometer (left: measuring chamber, right: evaluation station)
29.3.2021 – Endowment of the professorship ( thomas.mehner@mb… )
