1: Physics of X-Rays.- 1.1 Origin of X-rays.- 1.1.1 General.- 1.1.2 Continuous radiation.- 1.1.3 Characteristic radiation.- 1.1.4 Non-diagram lines.- 1.1.5 Auger effect.- 1.1.6 Fluorescent yield.- 1.2 Production of X-rays.- 1.2.1 General.- 1.2.2 X-ray tubes.- 1.2.3 Light element excitation.- 1.3 Properties of X-rays.- 1.3.1 Absorption.- 1.3.2 Scattering of X-rays.- 1.3.3 Absorption by composite materials.- 1.3.4 Diffraction of X-rays.- 1.3.5 Conditions for diffraction.- 1.4 Excitation of fluorescence radiation in the sample.- 1.4.1 General.- 1.4.2 Excitation by monochromatic radiation.- 1.4.3 Excitation by continuous spectra.- 2: Dispersion.- 2.1 General.- 2.2 Geometric arrangement of the spectrometer.- 2.3 Effective range of the spectrometer.- 2.4 Dispersion efficiency.- 2.5 Broadening of line profile.- 2.6 Collimation requirements of the spectrometer.- 2.7 Reflection efficiency.- 2.8 Filters to increase resolving power.- 2.8.1 Reducing secondary radiation.- 2.8.2 Reducing primary radiation.- 2.9 Problems experienced in the application of crystal dispersion.- 2.9.1 General condition of the crystal.- 2.9.2 Temperature effects.- 2.9.3 Crystal fluorescence.- 2.9.4 Abnormal reflections.- 2.10 Dispersion of soft X-rays.- 2.10.1 Organo-metallic compounds.- 2.10.2 Pseudo crystals.- 2.10.3 Diffraction gratings.- 2.11 Comparison of the methods for long wavelength dispersion.- 3: Detection.- 3.1 General.- 3.2 Gas filled detectors.- 3.2.1 Dead time.- 3.2.2 The Geiger-Müller counter.- 3.2.3 The proportional counter.- 3.2.4 The gas flow proportional counter.- 3.3 The scintillation counter.- 3.3.1 The phosphor.- 3.3.2 The photomultiplier.- 3.3.3 Characteristics of the scintillation counter.- 3.4 Comparison of detectors.- 4: Pulse Height Selection.- 4.1 Principle of pulse height selection.- 4.2 Automatic pulse height selection.- 4.2.1 Variation of pulse amplitude.- 4.2.2 Variation of base line and channel settings.- 4.3 Applications of pulse height selection.- 4.4 Theoretical application of pulse height selection.- 4.4.1 Flow counter.- 4.4.2 Scintillation counter.- 4.5 Practical problems arising in pulse height selection.- 4.6 Pulse amplitude shifts.- 4.6.1 Effect of counter voltage.- 4.6.2 Count rate effect.- 4.6.3 Gas density effect.- 4.6.4 Effect of ionisable gas atoms to quench gas ratio.- 4.7 Pulse amplitude distortions.- 4.7.1 Additional peaks arising from the same wavelength giving main peak.- 4.7.2 Additional peaks not arising from the measured wavelength.- 5: Counting Statistics.- 5.1 introduction.- 5.2 Definition of statistical terms.- 5.3 Random distribution of X-rays.- 5.4 Choice of fixed time or fixed count.- 5.5 Limit of counting error.- 5.6 Counting error in the net intensity.- 5.7 Selection of optimum counting times.- 5.8 Selection of best conditions for analysis.- 5.9 Selection of best conditions for low concentrations.- 5.10 Errors in using the ratio method.- 5.11 Selection of ratio or absolute counting method.- 5.12 Counting error versus stability.- 5.13 Counting error as a function of total numbers of counts.- 6: Matrix Effects.- 6.1 Errors in X-ray analysis..- 6.2 Elemental interactions.- 6.2.1 Absorption.- 6.2.2 Enhancement effects.- 6.3 Physical effects ..- 6.3.1 Particle size and surface effects.- 6.3.2 Effects due to chemical state.- 7: Quantitative Analysis.- 7.1 General.- 7.2 Use of standards.- 7.2.1 External standards.- 7.2.2 Internal standard (different element).- 7.2.3 Internal standard (same element).- 7.2.4 Use of scattered tube lines.- 7.3 Dilution techniques.- 7.4 Thin film techniques.- 7.5 Mathematical corrections.- 7.5.1 Principle of the influence factor method.- 7.5.2 Absorption correction methods.- 8: Sample Preparation.- 8.1 General.- 8.2 Samples requiring only a simple treatment.- 8.2.1 Bulk solids (a) metals.- 8.2.2 Bulk solids (b) non-metals.- 8.2.3 Powders.- 8.2.4 Liquids.- 8.3 Samples requiring significant pre-trcatment.- 8.3.1 Bulk solids.- 8.3.2 Powders.- 8.4 Samples requiring special handling treatment.- 8.4.1 Very small samples.- 8.4.2 Very dilute samples.- 8.4.3 Radioactive samples.- 9: Trace Analysis.- 9.1 General.- 9.2 Analysis of low concentrations.- 9.3 Theoretical considerations.- 9.4 Statistical definition.- 9.5 Figure of merit (or quality function).- 9.6 Generator stability.- 9.7 Effect of long term drift.- 9.8 Variation of detection limit with atomic number.- 9.9 Choice of excitation conditions.- 9.9.1 Choice of X-ray tube.- 9.9.2 Choice of tube current and potential.- 9.10 Effect of background.- 9.11 Removal of background by polarization.- 9.12 Use of filters.- 9.13 Effect of the matrix.- 9.14 Analysis of limited quantities of material.- 9.15 Theoretical considerations I.- 9.16 Ultimate requirements in sample size.- 9.17 Handling of small samples.- Appendix 1(a).- Appendix 2(a).- Appendix 2(b).- Appendix 3(a).- Appendix 3(b).- Appendix 4.
