XRF analyzer for light element analysis

Thermo Scientific recently introduced its second-generation, high-performance, truly nondestructive handheld analyzer for light element analysis in alloy material. With its helium-purging mechanism for direct analysis of light elements, the handheld Thermo Scientific NITON XL3t 900 Series provides highly comprehensive alloy sorting capabilities ideal for applications including recycling, as well as for manufacturers and fabricators of aluminum, copper and aerospace “superalloys.” “The XL3t 900 Series, with its helium purge measurement head, takes the analytical capabilities of handheld XRF to a new level,” said Jon Shein, director of global marketing for Thermo Scientific NITON Analyzers. “It all but eliminates the need for OES instrumentation in the field for analysis of magnesium, aluminum and silicon content in metal alloys. Increased base metal prices, combined with globalized trade in scrap metal, alloy stock and finished products, have increased the costs of alloy mix-ups – to suppliers, distributors and industrial consumers.” The XL3t 900 system fills the interior of its unique measurement head with pure helium, purging atmospheric air from the x-ray analysis path, and allowing light element x-rays to contact its high-resolution x-ray detector. As a result, operators can confidently measure light element alloy content with the same analyzer that they use to test high-temp alloys, and thousands of added alloy grades can now be assessed with the simple pull of a trigger.