Abstract
Fluorescent X-ray analysis of Sn and Zr (below 0.3%) in aluminum alloys was investigated. Measurements were made for total X-ray intensities (IE+B) at the wavelengths of SnKα (n=2) and ZrKα (n=1), and background intensities (IB) in the vicinits of the characteristic lines. IB's of individual samples were subtracted from corresponding IE+B's to obtain fluorescent X-ray intensities (IE) of the elements of interest. Correlations of IE to CE, content of the elements, however, were poor due to the presence of heavy metals in some of the alloys.
Correction for the absorbing constituents, Zn, Cu and Ni, was made to establish satisfactorily linear relationship of corrected ISn to CSn. Further, application of an internal standard method was studied because the correction for absorption is not convenient in industrial analyses. IB's of some metals and binary alloys of aluminum were investigated, and it was shown that IB was an adequate internal standard to eliminate the effect of absorption. Linear calibration lines were obtained by plotting IE/IB against CE for both Sn and Zr. Precision data were shown.
