Hi friends,
Does anyone have any experience using standards from the supplier Micro to Nano?
https://www.microtonano.com/EM-Tec-CXS-calibration-and-reference-standards-for-EDS-WDS-and-BSD.php (https://www.microtonano.com/EM-Tec-CXS-calibration-and-reference-standards-for-EDS-WDS-and-BSD.php)
A colleague is considering them.
Thanks,
-Steve
Quote from: SteveSeddio on September 21, 2023, 07:30:32 AM
Hi friends,
Does anyone have any experience using standards from the supplier Micro to Nano?
https://www.microtonano.com/EM-Tec-CXS-calibration-and-reference-standards-for-EDS-WDS-and-BSD.php (https://www.microtonano.com/EM-Tec-CXS-calibration-and-reference-standards-for-EDS-WDS-and-BSD.php)
A colleague is considering them.
Thanks,
-Steve
Well, I for one have a problem with these "standard" materials, because first of all many of these so called "standards" are not actually standards, they are simply various materials that someone has obtained from various sources by various means. I quote from their web site:
QuoteThe stoichiometric compositions of these natural minerals are nominal; other impurities or small inclusions may be present. Intended as reference standard for quantitative EDS and WDS micro-analysis applications.
So they are "nominal compositions" but intended as "reference standard [sic] for quantitative EDS and WDS micro-analysis applications"? I can't think of any statement more self contradictory. >:(
Thanks for the commentary, Probeman!
I've been collecting many "pure element" spectra for metrological purposes. It is surprising to me how many materials sold to me as "pure elements" have a percent or two (or sometimes 20%) of another element. We don't need six nines pure elements but 3 or 4 would be appreciated. :-)
Quote from: Nicholas Ritchie on September 27, 2023, 08:08:57 AM
I've been collecting many "pure element" spectra for metrological purposes. It is surprising to me how many materials sold to me as "pure elements" have a percent or two (or sometimes 20%) of another element. We don't need six nines pure elements but 3 or 4 would be appreciated. :-)
I'm sure you saw the figure from Fournelle showing 3 wt% Fe in what was supposed pure Rh from a commercial "standards" provider? The figure is in the presentation attached to this post:
https://smf.probesoftware.com/index.php?topic=1535.msg11883#msg11883
No certificates attached to product lists
Grains look small relative to aperture of FC in photos
Their REE materials include some that have always come up very inhomogeneous
No word on how they make their FC
Do I need to say more?
Speaking of elemental standard purity, I found this paper from 2009:
"Purity determination as needed for the realisation of primary standards for elemental determination: status of international comparability"
See attached for pdf.