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Correction for the effect of soil moisture on in situ XRF analysis using low‐energy background
Author(s) -
Bastos R. O.,
Melquiades F. L.,
Biasi G. E. V.
Publication year - 2012
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.2397
Subject(s) - in situ , moisture , water content , calibration , process engineering , work (physics) , process (computing) , energy (signal processing) , environmental science , computer science , soil science , matrix (chemical analysis) , sample (material) , biological system , statistics , mathematics , chemistry , engineering , mechanical engineering , geotechnical engineering , chromatography , organic chemistry , biology , operating system
X‐ray fluorescence (XRF) analyses are affected by many matrix and geometrical factors that, generally, are possible to handle in laboratory conditions. However, when in situ analyses are considered, constraints in the measurement conditions make more difficult to handle some factors, such as moisture, affecting the measurement accuracy. Efforts have been made to correct some of the effects by inserting some steps in the sample preparation process. The problem is that each step added in this process, aiming a better precision and accuracy, makes the in situ measurement harder and longer to accomplish, influencing negatively the intrinsic advantages of the in situ measurement. In this work, we propose a method to correct the effect of soil moisture on in situ XRF analysis using low‐energy background. The method demands a simple calibration, after which a long drying procedure is not necessary before measuring the samples. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.