Systematic investigation of inter-element effects during EDXRF measurements on mixed oxide powders of aluminium, silicon, and yttrium

Inter-element effects may severely affect the accuracy during edxrf measurements of mixed oxides. single (individual), binary and ternary oxide mixtures of al, si and y were made with cellulose and the pellets were prepared. sensitivity and intercept of the edxrf spectrometer for al, si and y were determined. effects of presence of the other elements on the sensitivity and intercept were studied. the sensitivity was found to increase, as per the atomic number. characteristic x-ray energies, absorption edges and attenuation coefficients are the key factors, which controlled the sensitivity. presence of interfering impurities, overlap of peaks and x-ray absorption, hold the principal control over intercept of the calibration curves. for each of the three present analytes, the major contributor to inter-element effect was identified, via a systematic approach. compositions of two samples of yttrium aluminium silicate were determined, after incorporating inter-element correction factors.