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Recent Advances in Micro X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometry Presented at the Getty MuseumRecent Advances in Micro X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometry Presented at the Getty Museum George Havrilla of Chemistry Division was recently invited to present on his confocal x-ray imaging technology at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles. His presentation was entitled, "XRF Workshop - Part III Quantitative XRF Analysis using handheld instrumentation." George was one of two invited speakers, and he discussed recent advances in micro X-ray fluorescence spectrometry, focusing on work at LANL. The workshop was July 6th & 7th, 2006 at the Getty Conservation Institute.The technique, pioneered by George and his research team, is rapidly finding new uses in medical, materials, weapons, and curatorial applications. It won an R&D 100 Award in 2004. Micro X-ray fluorescence offers unique capabilities in materials characterization. This elemental method can provide spatially resolved point spectra, line scans and elemental maps. While all of these spectroscopic features provide insights into the elemental composition of the material, elemental imaging is a very powerful tool in characterizing large areas of a material. The nondestructive nature of this method along with little or no sample preparation makes this a very attractive tool in studying a wide array of samples. His talk explored the use of MXRF in looking at a myriad of materials and demonstrating its unique capabilities in solving characterization problems. These applications include alloys, corrosion, polymers, particles, catalysts, pharmaceuticals and fossils. Confocal MXRF is a new laboratory-based method offering 3-dimensional nondestructive elemental imaging capabilities with significant implications for characterization of art and cultural heritage specimens.
September/2006 |
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