Abstract:
For the determination of Zr in Zircon sand, the spectral line of Zr is mainly used. However, the spectral line of Zr K
α does not reach the saturation thickness for the fused bead, which leads to poor linearity and large errors in the results. The determination of ZrO
2, HfO
2, SiO
2, Al
2O
3, CaO, TiO
2, Fe
2O
3, MgO, Na
2O, Cr
2O
3, P
2O
5, and MnO in Zircon sand samples has been developed with fused bead by Wavelength Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometer. In this article, a detailed description of the study for the selection of the Zr spectrum line is given. Through theoretical arithmetic, the saturation thickness of the Zr K
α is 6638 μm, which is far beyond the thickness of the fused bead of 2500 μm while the saturation thickness of the Zr L
α is only 20 μm, which is within the range of the bead. Therefore, the Zr L
α is much more suitable than Zr K
α, as mentioned in published articles. The RMS of Zr K
α is 1.03 while the RMS of Zr L
α is 0.39. The accuracy and the precision of the ZrO
2 are greatly improved. The respective saturation thickness for Hf L
α and Hf L
β is 971 μm and 1444 μm. The Hf L
α1 line is overlapped by the second line of Zr K
α, hence, the Hf L
β line is selected as the analysing line. The mixed flux of Li
2B
4O
7 and LiBO
2, the proportion of the flux and sample and the temperature of the fused sample are all optimized. The matrix effect was corrected by the theoretical
α coefficient and empirical coefficient. The calculated detection limits of the respective elements coincide with the measured results. The precision of the method (RSD) is 0.1%-10.9%. The results are in agreement with the certified values obtained by chemical methods, which showing that the measured spectral line determined through calculation of saturated thickness of Zr and Hf has certain feasibility.