"Which elements, and how much?"
X-ray fluorescence. The fastest and cheapest answer when the question is elemental — and it often is.
MATERIAL ANALYSIS
Material analysis techniques: which one for which need
The question is almost never "which technique". It is "what do I need to know about this material". The acronyms come afterwards — and one of them answers, while the others cost a lot for nothing.
7 techniques
Compared on what they read
The question first
The acronym after
The whole chain
From the instrument to the campaign
Three families, three different questions
All these techniques light up a material and look at what comes back. What differs is the nature of the answer: what it is made of, how it is arranged, or what it looks like close up. Confusing the three means buying an instrument that will never answer the question.
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Composition — which elements, in what quantity
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Chemical nature — which molecule, which polymer, which phase
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Location — where, over what thickness, at which precise spot
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And often two of them together rather than one alone
The seven techniques, and what each one reads
The acronym on the left, the question it answers on the right.
| X-ray fluorescence — XRF | Which elements and in what quantity. On site, in seconds, destroying nothing. Does not read light elements. |
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| Raman | Which molecule, which polymer, which pigment. Through a vial or a bag, without contact. |
| Infrared — FTIR | The chemical functions of a plastic, an oil, a binder. Complementary to Raman more than competing with it. |
| Electron microscopy and EDX — SEM/EDS | Seeing the structure at the micron, then analysing precisely the spot being looked at. |
| X-ray diffraction — XRD | Which crystalline phase. Two powders of the same composition can be two different materials. |
| X-ray photoelectrons — XPS | The very first nanometres of the surface, and the chemical state of the elements found there. |
| Spark — OES | Carbon and light elements in metals — precisely what escapes X-ray fluorescence. |
The techniques do not compete, they follow on from each other
In practice a question is rarely settled in one move. You look under the microscope, analyse the spot you looked at, then confirm the chemical nature by another route. Some set-ups do both in the same instrument — a Raman built into an electron microscope, for one.
Depending on the case, we equip your teams or run the campaign ourselves. The question asked decides the set-up, and we cover both.
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Calibrated in Switzerland
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Repaired in Switzerland
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Custom adjustments
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Local support
Tell us what you are trying to find out
Describe the sample and the decision that depends on the result. We will tell you which technique answers, and how to get it: instrument, measurement campaign, or both.