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Graphite Fusion of Geological Samples

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 March 2019

Gary Luedemann ,
David Mann  and
Roland Hagan
Gary Luedemann
Affiliation:
Los Alamos National Laboratory Earth and Environmental Sciences Division Mail Stop D469, Los Alamos, NM 87545
David Mann
Affiliation:
Los Alamos National Laboratory Earth and Environmental Sciences Division Mail Stop D469, Los Alamos, NM 87545
Roland Hagan
Affiliation:
Los Alamos National Laboratory Earth and Environmental Sciences Division Mail Stop D469, Los Alamos, NM 87545
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Extract

Proper sample preparation is very important for quantitative X-ray fluorescence analyses. Our first approach to fusing geological samples was a slight modification of a method described by Taggart(l) of fusing in platinum crucibles, with 1 g of sample to 10 g lithium tetraborate fired over bunsen burners. This method provided good results and was used until recently. Due to physical constraints, the required exhaust hoods could not be installed which prompted our investigation into new methods of fusion. The first reported application of a borate-glass fusion was in 1913(2); the melt consisted of 0.3 g of sample, 1.5 g of lithium carbonate, and 1.5 g of boron oxide (or about 3 g of lithium tetraborate). This mixture was heated in a graphite crucible at 1150 °C for twenty minutes and then poured into a brass ring on a copper-surfaced hot plate. Ironically our current procedure resembles this early technique.

Type
V. XRF Instrumentation and Techniques
Information
Advances in X-Ray Analysis , Volume 34: Thirty-Ninth Annual Conference on Applications of X-ray Analysis, July 30 - August 3, 1990 , 1990 , pp. 213 - 216
Copyright
Copyright © International Centre for Diffraction Data 1990

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References

1. Taggart, J. E. Jr., Lindsay, J. R., Scott, B. A., Vivit, D. V., Bartel, A. J., and Stewart, K. C., Analysis of geologic material by wavelength dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry, in: Chapter E, U. S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1770, P. A. Baedecker, editor, E1-E19 (1987).Google Scholar
2. Applied Research Laboratories Inc., X-Ray Analysis of Metallic Elements in Nonmetallic Material, ARL Spectrogr. News Lett. 7(3), 1-3 (1954).Google Scholar