Acquisition of an X-ray fluorescence spectrometer for the elemental chemical characterization of metals ceramics, polymers and residues of industrial activities

• Grant number: 09/54118-7
• Support Opportunities: Multi-user Equipment Program
• Start date: November 01, 2010
• End date: August 31, 2013
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Materials and Metallurgical Engineering
• Principal Investigator: Carlos Angelo Nunes
• Grantee: Carlos Angelo Nunes
• Host Institution: Escola de Engenharia de Lorena (EEL). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Lorena , SP, Brazil
• EMU web page: Página do Equipamento Multiusuário não informada
• Type of equipment: Tipo de Equipamento Multiusuário não informado
• Manufacturer: Fabricante não informado
• Model: Modelo não informado

Abstract

Materials research involves the microstructural and elemental analysis of new materials and the development of options related to existing ones. Chemical and elemental characterization is crucial to monitoring the production of materials, ensuring their quality, and identifying components that potentially enhance or detract from the projected properties. The Department of Materials Engineering of the USP Lorena School of Engineering (EEL) has an extensive research program, demanding analytical techniques that are rapid, precise, and accurate and that allow the determination of major and trace elements. Our objectives in requesting the equipment listed below are to meet the needs of the associated and complementary projects, as well as those of other projects organized by the EEL and by its partner institutions that develop large research projects in collaboration with entities such as Petrobras (INPE, Cachoeira Paulista; catalysts), EMBRAPA Forestry Division (USP/EEL; biomass derivatives for thermoelectric energy generation), the CSN (USP/EEL; development and characterization of refractory materials and re-use of residues for metallurgy). There is also a demand within the Vale do Paraíba region (in the State of São Paulo), as well as in the southern portions of the states of Rio of Janeiro and Minas Gerais, to analyze and identify minerals, environmental changes, and materials to be developed in Brazil based on materials that are currently imported. This demand is not being fully met, because the X-ray fluorescence equipment that exists belongs to the companies and are limited in their configuration. Greater availability of such equipment will increase opportunities for the training of staff in the technique and should motivate the initiation of new lines of research based on the re-use of industrial residues. The equipment requested is a sequential wavelength dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometer that provides great analytical versatility, through the use of different crystals and detectors, as well as having good sensitivity and low detection limits for the determination of light metals. (AU)