In all metallic alloys, certain material specifications are set forth to accurately classify the particular metal blend in question. stainless steel is one of the most commonly used metal alloys in the market today, and as such, many variations have been developed from the base mixture for more specialized uses. This particular stainless steel 316 standard was designed with extra additions of chrome for improved corrosion resistance against chlorine. Its most common uses today are mainly in pharmaceutical and food production related equipment, but it is also called "marine grade" steel for its uses in maritime vessel production.

Repeatability testing was done on a certified block of 316 stainless steel to determine the precision achievable against the standard reference values on the Rigaku ZSX Primus series of wavelength dispersive X-ray fluorescence Spectrometers. This was done using the convenient "Standardless" Semi-Quantitative (or SQX) software in seven consecutive dynamic analyses set-up in a canned qualitative routine scan named for its ease: EZScan

The standard 316 stainless steel block is shown mounted in a 30 mm sample holder in Image 1. The complied repeatability and statistical data, as well as the standard referenced values for stainless steel 316 product specifications, can be seen in Table 1.

The data in Table 1 shows a high degree of precision with minute Standard Deviation and RSD % values. From these results, the conclusion can be made that this stainless steel 316 metallic alloy can be consistently identified to within product specs, without reliance on a standard calibration, through the Rigaku SQX software on the Rigaku ZSX Primus Series of WD-XRF Spectrometers.

Table 1

Tags: XRF, Primus, WDXRF, alloys, semi-quantitative analysis