Increased sensitivity of Rigaku Supermini demonstrated through analysis of carpenter MP35N™ alloy
Recently the Rigaku Supermini benchtop XRF spectrometer arrived at the XRF Applications Lab in The Woodlands, TX. Since it has a 200 W Pd tube, we were eager to try out this more powerful X-ray tube on a realistic industrial sample, and compare the results to the performance of a 50 W Pd tube benchtop system.
Analysis
To compare the increased power of the Supermini to that of a 50 W system, a "high temp alloy", Carpenter MP35N, was analyzed on each spectrometer.
Data
When the count rates from the Supermini and 50 W system are compared, the greater sensitivity of the Supermini is readily evident, thanks to its higher output 200 W X-ray tube.
| Element | Al | P | S | Cl | K | Cr | Fe | Co | Ni | Mo |
| Line | Al-Kα | P-Kα | S-Kα | Cl-Kα | K-Kα | Cr-Kα | Fe-Kα | Co-Kα | Ni-Kα | Mo-Kα |
| 50 W Pd tube (kcps) | 0.03663 | 0.06457 | 2.34698 | 0.02704 | 0.03212 | 10.4118 | 0.59848 | 24.3026 | 32.5388 | 18.4657 |
| Supermini 200 W Pd tube (kcps) | 0.13531 | 0.32726 | 12.877 | 0.23773 | 0.45059 | 54.3524 | 3.2737 | 124.654 | 170.082 | 126.681 |
| % count rate increase | 269.4 | 406.8 | 448.7 | 779.2 | 1302.8 | 422.0 | 447.0 | 412.9 | 422.7 | 586.0 |
Sample: Alloy MP35N
Benefit
With the generation of count rates several times larger using the Rigaku Supermini, greater accuracy can generally be achieved or analysis time can be shortened, thus increasing throughput without sacrificing sensitivity when compared to lower-power systems.
MP35N is a trademark of SPS Technologies, Inc. MP is a registered trademark of SPS Technologies, Inc
