British Crystallographic Association Industrial Group X-ray Fluorescence meeting. Sheffield Hallam University, Wednesday 12th June.
British Crystallographic Association Industrial Group X-ray Fluorescence meeting. Sheffield Hallam University, Wednesday 12th June.
In 2018 the annual XRF meeting was held for the first time at Sheffield Hallam University, this meeting was a great success so the meeting returned to SHU in 2019.
In 2018 the annual XRF meeting was held for the first time at Sheffield Hallam University, this meeting was a great success so the meeting returned to SHU in 2019.
45 delegates attended the meeting. 7 speakers gave talks at the meeting, including 3 from Germany! 12 exhibitors were part of a commercial exhibition and they all gave short presentations to advertise their wares as part of the Exhibitor Forum.
45 delegates attended the meeting. 7 speakers gave talks at the meeting, including 3 from Germany! 12 exhibitors were part of a commercial exhibition and they all gave short presentations to advertise their wares as part of the Exhibitor Forum.
https://sites.google.com/site/bcaxrf/meetings/12-june-2019 gives full details of the meeting.
https://sites.google.com/site/bcaxrf/meetings/12-june-2019 gives full details of the meeting.
3 student places were taken up by postgraduate students from SHU. My Ph.D student Katrina Love kindly wrote a report on the meeting.
3 student places were taken up by postgraduate students from SHU. My Ph.D student Katrina Love kindly wrote a report on the meeting.
A.M.T.Bell - Sheffield Hallam University
A.M.T.Bell - Sheffield Hallam University
Annual XRF meeting 2019
Annual XRF meeting 2019
Following on from last year’s event, the XRF meeting was once again held at Sheffield Hallam University and chaired by Dr Tony Bell. I was very kindly offered a student place and made great use of this opportunity to better acquaint myself with the theory and industrial applications of XRF. The little knowledge of XRF I did have had come from prior use during my undergraduate degree and currently in my PhD as a primary characteristic method to analyse my glass compositions (Image 1: My academic poster evidencing my use of XRF).
Following on from last year’s event, the XRF meeting was once again held at Sheffield Hallam University and chaired by Dr Tony Bell. I was very kindly offered a student place and made great use of this opportunity to better acquaint myself with the theory and industrial applications of XRF. The little knowledge of XRF I did have had come from prior use during my undergraduate degree and currently in my PhD as a primary characteristic method to analyse my glass compositions (Image 1: My academic poster evidencing my use of XRF).
Figure 1: My academic poster
As I stepped through the revolving doors of the host venue, I made a bee line to the registration desk where my welcome pack awaited, personalised with my name printed on it. The main booth area was bustling with suit cladded bodies, rustling banners and teething with the sound of chitter chatter. It was incredibly interesting to see the equipment available from industry such as Bruker, FluXana and ATC to just name a few. There was XRF analytical equipment, preparation machines for grinding and pelletizing, and furnaces that make the fused bead samples. The equipment was more compact than what I was used to, with demo kits sitting idly on the provided stall tables.
As I stepped through the revolving doors of the host venue, I made a bee line to the registration desk where my welcome pack awaited, personalised with my name printed on it. The main booth area was bustling with suit cladded bodies, rustling banners and teething with the sound of chitter chatter. It was incredibly interesting to see the equipment available from industry such as Bruker, FluXana and ATC to just name a few. There was XRF analytical equipment, preparation machines for grinding and pelletizing, and furnaces that make the fused bead samples. The equipment was more compact than what I was used to, with demo kits sitting idly on the provided stall tables.
Figure 2 - SciMed stall
The official welcome talk was given by Dr Tony Bell as he gave a whistle stop tour of what got him involved with XRF and how he had been using it. He described how he entered the world of XRF when a colleague had asked about the composition of a clay that contained silver. At that time the OXI method did not have a silver calibration standard, which led to Tony developing it at SHU along with other samples.
The official welcome talk was given by Dr Tony Bell as he gave a whistle stop tour of what got him involved with XRF and how he had been using it. He described how he entered the world of XRF when a colleague had asked about the composition of a clay that contained silver. At that time the OXI method did not have a silver calibration standard, which led to Tony developing it at SHU along with other samples.
The day continued with 3 minute pitches from vendors informing the audience of their key findings and top equipment, then by specific talks where XRF had been used. Some of the talks that I found particularly useful and interesting included ‘light element mapping by WD-XRF’ by Malcolm Haigh, SciMed, ‘The analysis of suspended particulate matter using ED-XRF’ by Andrew Scothern, Malvern Panalytical and ‘Biasing pitfalls in sample preparation for XRF analysis’ by Martin Lischka, HERZOG Maschinenfabrik GmbH. These talks highlighted to me the scope that XRF can have and the impact of having smarter machines can have for businesses. A few seconds quicker at grinding, pouring, releasing of samples, saves a lot of time on the shop floor and money. Procedures in the lab that I take for granted when preparing my XRF sample powders, such as how I transfer my powder or pack it can affect the results and errors I get.
The day continued with 3 minute pitches from vendors informing the audience of their key findings and top equipment, then by specific talks where XRF had been used. Some of the talks that I found particularly useful and interesting included ‘light element mapping by WD-XRF’ by Malcolm Haigh, SciMed, ‘The analysis of suspended particulate matter using ED-XRF’ by Andrew Scothern, Malvern Panalytical and ‘Biasing pitfalls in sample preparation for XRF analysis’ by Martin Lischka, HERZOG Maschinenfabrik GmbH. These talks highlighted to me the scope that XRF can have and the impact of having smarter machines can have for businesses. A few seconds quicker at grinding, pouring, releasing of samples, saves a lot of time on the shop floor and money. Procedures in the lab that I take for granted when preparing my XRF sample powders, such as how I transfer my powder or pack it can affect the results and errors I get.
Overall, while this year’s meeting had a smaller amount of attendees than last year the quality of presentations was great and organisation was well established. It would have been nice for there to have been more posters evidencing use of XRF from industry and academia, hopefully this will be the case in the future.
Overall, while this year’s meeting had a smaller amount of attendees than last year the quality of presentations was great and organisation was well established. It would have been nice for there to have been more posters evidencing use of XRF from industry and academia, hopefully this will be the case in the future.
Katrina Love - Sheffield Hallam University.
Katrina Love - Sheffield Hallam University.