title: Application of total reflection X-ray fluorescence spectrometry to small glass fragments.
abstract: Total reflection X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (TXRF) has been applied for trace elemental analysis of small glass fragments. A small glass sample (a fragment with weight less than 0.5 mg) was decomposed by 100 microg of HF/HNO3 acid; the material was condensed to 10 microl and was dried on a Si wafer. Since the size of the dried residue on the Si wafer was less than 1 cm in diameter, an incident X-ray beam with about 1 cm in width could effectively excite elemental components in such a small glass fragment. The precision of the present technique was checked by analyzing the glass fragments (<0.5 mg) from NIST SRM612; the relative standard deviations (RSD) of less than 8.1% were achieved for elemental ratios that were normalized by Sr. Fragments (<0.5 mg) obtained from 23 figured sheet glasses were used as samples for estimating the utility of this technique to forensic discrimination. Comparison of five elemental ratios of Ti/Sr, Mn/Sr, Zn/Sr, Rb/Sr, and Pb/Sr calculated from X-ray fluorescence spectra was effective in distinguishing glass fragments that could not be differentiated by their refractive indexes (RI).
authors.affiliation: Forensic Science Laboratory, Hyogo Prefectural Police Headquarters, Japan. yn777@f2.dion.ne.jp
authors.forename: Yoshinori
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nishiwaki
authors.forename: Masahiko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shimoyama
authors.forename: Toshio
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nakanishi
authors.forename: Toshio
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ninomiya
authors.forename: Izumi
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Nakai