XRF Analizi | EUROLAB

What Is XRF?

XRF analysis is a non-destructive analysis method in which element concentrations are determined by measuring the characteristic fluorescence radiation specific to elements, resulting from exciting the specimen with X-rays.

Purpose of XRF

The purpose is to verify material identity non-destructively, sort alloys, and provide initial screening in restricted-substance surveys.

Which Products Is XRF Applied To?

Metal alloy sorting
Coating thickness and composition
Restricted-substance screening
Scrap and recovered material

In Which Sectors Is XRF Used?

MetalSteelMiningMachineryOil & Gas

Standards Related to XRF

ASTM E1621
ASTM E572
ISO 3497
IEC 62321-3-1

XRF Conditions

Excitation: The specimen is excited with an X-ray tube
Measurement mode: Energy-dispersive (EDXRF) or wavelength-dispersive (WDXRF)
Calibration: Calibration with matrix-matched reference materials
Measurement duration: Seconds to minutes, according to element and sensitivity requirements

Equipment for XRF

EDXRF or WDXRF spectrometer
Certified reference material set
Specimen holder and mask
Coating-thickness measurement module

Sample Requirements for XRF

The surface must be flat, clean and homogeneous
The substrate must be known for coating measurement
Specimen thickness must satisfy the infinite-thickness condition
Powder specimens can be converted into a pressed pellet

Duration of XRF

Minutes per measurement; short, together with specimen preparation.

XRF Procedure

1The instrument is verified with reference materials.
2The specimen surface is cleaned and positioned.
3The appropriate calibration programme is selected.
4The spectrum is collected.
5Element concentrations or coating thickness are calculated.

XRF Acceptance Criteria

The acceptance criterion is the limit values given in the material standard or restricted-substance legislation.

Evaluation of Results

XRF is not reliable for light elements (carbon, sulphur, nitrogen); OES or combustion methods are used for these elements. In restricted-substance screening, XRF is a triage tool; results close to the limit value must be confirmed with a laboratory method.

XRF Report

Standard applied
Instrument and calibration
Specimen identification
Element concentrations or coating thickness
Measurement uncertainty

Accreditation

EUROLAB holds internationally recognised accreditation obtained from accreditation bodies party to the IAF and ILAC multilateral recognition arrangements, under ISO/IEC 17025 for laboratory testing, ISO/IEC 17020 for inspection and surveillance, and ISO/IEC 17021-1 and ISO/IEC 17065 for system and product certification. This chain ensures the reports and certificates issued are accepted worldwide.

Whether this test can be offered within accredited scope depends on your product and the standard applied; since accreditation is method-based, the scope is confirmed in writing at the quotation stage.

Scope and authorisations

Related Regulations

RoHS (2011/65/EU) pre-screening
Material product standards

Pages Where This Method Is Used

Metal and Metallurgy Testing — What Does This Testing Field Cover?

The section below describes the field that the XRF test belongs to; the conditions and acceptance criteria of this particular test are given in the sections above. The scope specific to your product is confirmed in writing at the quotation stage.

Metal and metallurgical testing determines the load a metal or a welded joint can carry, how it fails and what its internal structure looks like. The output of this family is often not about the product itself but about the identity of the MATERIAL: is the steel really of the declared grade, does the weld seam deliver the strength the design assumes, does the casting contain an unacceptable internal defect?

The practical importance of the field comes from the fact that a metal part rarely fails gradually. A plastic part deforms, ages, cracks and usually gives warning. A weld seam or a fastener, by contrast, often breaks without warning — especially where fatigue and brittle fracture are involved. That is why in fields such as pressure equipment, lifting gear, structural steel and pipelines, material testing is a requirement of REGULATION rather than of design.

The family brings together three groups of methods, and each answers a different question. Mechanical tests quantify how the material behaves under load. Non-destructive examination looks for defects without damaging the part. Metallography and chemical analysis explain why the material behaves the way it does — through grain structure, phase distribution, inclusion content and alloy composition.

The acceptance criterion for these tests almost never comes from the test standard, and this is the key to understanding the field. The test standard says how the measurement is to be made; the acceptable values come from the product standard, the material grade or the fabrication code. ISO 6892-1 tells you how to run a tensile test; EN 10025 tells you what yield strength that steel must deliver. When reading a report, the product standard it was assessed against is essential.

Sampling is an inseparable part of the result in this field. Two specimens taken from the same heat may give different values depending on the direction and location they were taken from; in rolled products, specimens parallel and perpendicular to the rolling direction produce different results. Product standards therefore also govern sampling location and orientation, and the report must document this.

Method groups in this field

Mechanical tests
Tensile, compression, bending, notch impact (Charpy), hardness (Brinell, Vickers, Rockwell), fatigue, creep and fracture toughness. These give the behaviour of the material under load in numerical form.
Non-destructive examination
Radiography, ultrasonic examination, penetrant, magnetic particle and visual examination. It looks for surface and internal defects without damaging the part and is an indispensable step in welded fabrication.
Metallography
Specimen preparation, etching and microscopic examination. Grain size, phase distribution, inclusion content, case depth and the weld heat-affected zone are assessed.
Chemical analysis
Alloy composition is verified by optical emission spectrometry and wet chemistry; confirmation of the material grade runs through this step.
Corrosion behaviour
Salt spray, pitting and crevice corrosion and intergranular corrosion tests. In stainless steels these can indicate the quality of the heat treatment.

Commonly confused in this field

A material certificate (such as EN 10204 3.1) is not a test report; it is the manufacturer's declaration. In critical applications independent verification is carried out, and the two must not be confused.
ASTM and ISO tensile tests measure the same quantities but use different specimen geometries; the results are not treated as directly equivalent, and whichever the specification calls for is the one applied.
Conversion tables between hardness and strength are APPROXIMATE. Calculating yield strength from hardness is not sufficient evidence for material acceptance.
In non-destructive examination, "no defect found" does not mean there is no defect; defects below the detection limit of the method may be present. The report must state the method applied and the sensitivity level.
A weld seam passing does not show that the welder or the procedure is qualified; these are separate processes.

Which decisions these results support