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The analysis of Nickel, Gallium and Germanium in iron meteorites by X‐Ray fluorescence spectrometry
Author(s) -
Thomas W. W.,
De Laeter J. R.
Publication year - 1972
Publication title -
x‐ray spectrometry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.447
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1097-4539
pISSN - 0049-8246
DOI - 10.1002/xrs.1300010404
Subject(s) - gallium , germanium , meteorite , nickel , analytical chemistry (journal) , materials science , x ray fluorescence , chemistry , radiochemistry , metallurgy , fluorescence , physics , silicon , chromatography , optics , astrobiology
An X‐ray spectrometric technique is described which enables nickel, gallium and germanium to be analysed in iron meteorites. It is important to know the concentration of these elements with sufficient accuracy in order to chemically classify iron meteorites. The spectrometer was calibrated against a set of ‘standard’ meteorites with well‐established compositions. To obtain better accuracy, modification to the geometry were made to improve the peak to background ratio and eliminate machine background. This enabled nickel, gallium and germanium to be analysed with accuracies of ±0.05 per cent, ±4 p.p.m. and ±9 p.p.m. respectively for counting periods of 1 min for nickel and 10 min for gallium and germanium at the peak and background positions.