Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed an app that streamlines the characterization of complex materials. Called PyXRF, it provides an intuitive interface for capturing and processing data from handheld X-ray fluorescence (XRF) devices, a relatively new and affordable type of X-ray spectrometer that can reveal the chemical composition of materials. The app is available as open source software.
"This is a mobile app designed for nonexperts who need a quick and dirty way to assess whether their materials have the properties they expect," said NIST materials scientist Michael McGuire.
XRF is a type of spectroscopy that uses X-rays to excite electrons within an atom and measure the energy released when these electrons return to lower-energy states. The characteristic energy 'fingerprint' of each excited electron reveals information about the type and quantity of atoms within a material.
But extracting meaningful information from these measurements requires some understanding of the measurement equipment and the complexities of X-ray physics and signal processing.
"XRF spectrometers are becoming smaller, cheaper and easier to use," McGuire said. "However, the software packages that accompany these instruments are typically basic, and most assume the user has the time or the expertise to manually configure and postprocess the measurements. PyXRF streamlines these tasks into a user-friendly app."
The app also allows users to easily compare measurements taken in the field with known measurements of material libraries, including one the NIST team created for various types of plastics.
PYXRF is already being used by members of the NIST Material Measurement Laboratory (MML) to analyze samples on-site at manufacturing facilities and other industrial installations, and also to identify materials in museum collections. For example, PyXRF was able to identify the type of pigment used in a 200-year-old portrait at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
The app is also attracting interest from beyond NIST. It's being used by students and researchers at MIT and Georgetown University, and there's been outreach from a startup company interested in incorporating PyXRF into a commercial software product.
"We hope that by increasing the accessibility of advanced measurement capabilities, we will encourage more people to explore the properties of materials and discover the next big thing," McGuire said.
