Background

Material identification, also called positive material identification or PMI, is used to analyze and identify materials for quality assurance and quality control to verify proper alloy or material is being used. Material identification can also be used to quickly sort unknown alloys and other materials including powders and liquids, and can be used in industrial forensics and failure material analysis identification. By looking at the structure of the elemental constituents in a sample, material identification verifies material type by comparing differences in composition that define the specific types of materials being analyzed.

XRF offers a non-destructive means for material identification. Applied Rigaku Technologies EDXRF systems offer the standard alloy identification tables as well as the capability for the user to create a custom table defined for any material where the types of materials can be differentiated by differences in element composition.