What is this thing made out of? From product development to failure analysis, this is a common question. When creating something new, it’s best to acquire as much information as you can about the materials you are working with. The more details you have, the better you can understand how these materials can potentially react with other substances, processes and environments. Verification of supplier materials is also very important in early stages of product development, and possibly during mature manufacturing as well. For failure analysis, characterization of your material is also key to help determine the root cause of a failure.
What is one of the first steps in material research and investigation? It’s materials identification and elemental composition determination. X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) is a great technique for this type of materials analysis. It is considered both a bulk technique and trace elemental technique all in one.