Portable, hand held aluminum alloy XRF analyzer and method

An XRF analysis method comprising:

• offering a user a choice to invoke an aluminum alloy algorithm test and one or more additional tests;
• invoking the aluminum alloy algorithm test first in response to user input;
• operating the X-ray source at a predetermined voltage level and a predetermined current level optimized to detect aluminum alloy elements to direct X-rays at a sample;
• detecting aluminum alloy elements in the sample;
• and
• evaluating the detected aluminum alloy elements present in the sample using only stored libraries of aluminum alloys and reporting a specific aluminum alloy for the sample.

A portable hand held XRF analyzer comprising:

• an I/O section;
• an X-ray source for directing X-rays to a sample;
• a detector for detecting photons emitted by the sample;
• and
• a controller subsystem controlling the X-ray source and I/O section and responsive to the detector and I/O section, the controller subsystem configured to:
• present to the user via the I/O section a choice to invoke an aluminum alloy algorithm test,
• automatically first invoke the aluminum alloy algorithm test if the operator chooses the aluminum alloy algorithm test,
• automatically first operate the X-ray source at a predetermined voltage level and predetermined current level optimized to detect aluminum alloy elements,
• automatically analyze the detector output based only on stored libraries of aluminum alloys to determine aluminum alloy elements and their concentrations present in the sample, and
• only if the analysis fails to detect one or more aluminum alloy elements present in the sample and/or fails to specify a particular aluminum alloy, then to automatically operate the X-ray source at a higher voltage and lower current level and repeat the analysis step.

An XRF analysis method comprising:

• offering a user a choice to invoke an aluminum alloy algorithm test;
• automatically first invoking the aluminum alloy algorithm test in response to user input;
• automatically operating the X-ray source at a predetermined voltage level and a predetermined current level to direct X-rays at a sample optimized for detecting aluminum alloy elements;
• automatically detecting aluminum alloy elements in the sample;
• automatically analyzing the detected aluminum alloy elements present in the sample based only on stored libraries of aluminum alloys;
• and
• only if the analysis fails to detect one or more aluminum alloy elements present in the sample and/or fails to detect a particular aluminum alloy, then to automatically operate the X-ray source at a higher voltage, lower current level.