XRF and XRD Laboratory
Sample Preparation Laboratory
Equipment
X-Ray Fluorescence
At the center of this facility is a fully automated Panalytical 2404 XRF unit with a
100-position sample changer. The instrument is calibrated to analyze rocks,
minerals, soils and some industrial materials for 26 elements of geologic interest.
The instrument is supported by an adjoining, dedicated laboratory space with
equipment for preparing fused disks and pressed bricquettes. This includes
analytical balances, mixer mills, automatic mortar and pestle, muffle furnace
(for loss on ignition), a fume hood, digital burettes and crucibles (for determining
ferrous/ferric ratios), drying ovens, reagents, analytical standards, dessicators
and so on. This facility is also dependent on other facilities for rock cutting and
rock crushing. All students enrolled in GEO 322 and GEO 439 use this facility.
It is used extensively by students doing independent research projects and by
faculty members. It also attracts extensive outside use.
X-ray Diffraction
A Phillips 3520, automated XRD unit shares space with our XRF unit. Although the programmatic functions of these units are different, safety considerations motivate us to keep them in the same area. Simply put, we want all X-ray producing equipment in one area. XRD is used by students enrolled in GEO 122, GEO 321 and PHY 422 (Solid State Physics). Students doing independent research projects in Earth and Environment and Chemistry also use the unit. This unit requires only modest supporting equipment , including a large centrifuge for preparing oriented clay mounts, ASTM search manuals, card files for the identification of unknown samples, and minor accessories for preparing smear mounts. The XRD is supported by MDI DataScan automation package and MDI Jade search/match software that is linked to a ICCD diffraction database.
