EDX-FTIR Contaminant Finder/Material Inspector

Importance of Integrated EDX-FTIR Analysis

Combining energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy provides a comprehensive approach to identify inorganic and organic contaminants in quality control and forensic applications

• Enhanced confidence in material identification
• Supports food, water, industrial and environmental analysis
• Detects silent changes in supplier materials

Objectives and Study Overview

The application note describes an integrated software solution for qualitative contaminant analysis using EDX and FTIR techniques. Goals include streamlining data acquisition, matching spectral and elemental library entries, and providing confirmation testing against standards.

• Evaluate combined data analysis workflow
• Demonstrate contaminant identification in rubber and PVC samples
• Illustrate library management and report generation capabilities

Methodology

Users import EDX profiles and FTIR spectra into the software and select integrated analysis mode. Materials are classified as inorganic, organic or mixtures, and priority weighting is applied for library matching. A similarity score quantifies the match between measured data and reference entries.

Used Instrumentation

• Energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometers EDX-7000 and EDX-8000
• Fourier transform infrared spectrophotometers controlled via LabSolutions IR, IRsolution or AIMsolution
• Optional input of chromatograph or mass spectrometer data converted to PDF

Main Results and Discussion

In the black rubber contaminant example, the software identified acrylonitrile-butadiene rubber containing calcium carbonate and zinc stearate. In a PVC sample comparison, a matching index of 0.8506 was obtained. Unexpected detection of lead and acrylic in the test object indicated material composition differences from the standard.

Benefits and Practical Applications

• Rapid automated qualitative analysis
• Integrated library management for multiple data types
• Matching scores enable detection of material changes
• Linked storage of spectra, profiles, images and documents

Future Trends and Applications

• Expansion of reference libraries through industry collaboration
• Machine learning integration for improved matching
• Real-time monitoring and remote analysis capabilities
• Cloud based data exchange and storage

Conclusion

EDXIR-Analysis software delivers a robust platform for combined elemental and molecular contaminant identification. Its intuitive workflow, extensive reference library and data comparison tools support reliable quality assurance across diverse sectors.

Reference

No external references were provided in the source document.