X ray of Ag and Nb

[sgt_bear]

Yes, Cd-109 would also be my choice. Cd-109 is used in commercial xrf handhelds like the thermofischer one. Usually they use activity of 40mCi to 100mCi.

You only could get 10uCi from spectrum techniques and it will be around 120$. If i would do this (i would bend the rules), i would get 4 rod sources of 10uCi and then combine them to one rod by glueing them together.

Another option would be Fe-55 which is also used in commercial detectors, but has xrays at only 5 keV, so you have to calibrate.

The theremino creator used alot of Am-241 caps for his experiments.
Also Ba-133

X-ray tubes are an option yes, but its alot of effort to make it work because it needs a really "dangerous" power supply, just like a fusor. Also for those few who want to follow rules, a xray tube is a questionable source. There are commercial devices that use xray tubes in a hand held detector - the "Bruker titan" for example.



The reason why "short lived" sources are interesting for commercial products, is waste. Since the result of xrf is only a matter of source strenght and time, you can easly "self calibrate" the device by software. Since 40mCi is way beyond license free, the company would have to take care of the waste if the source cant be used anymore or is depleted. A 40mCi Cd-109 source would fall below 10uCi in around 16 years and then be disposed into normal trash. And i guess most other components of the device will not last 16 years.

For a rather extreme example, 40mCi of Cs-137 would take over 300years, and would have to been disposed into radioactive end storage.. which is very expensive! In my country, the disposal of ONE 10uCi disk would cost not less than 2000$.

[Zagros]

Hello,
Anyone tried Xrf using a excitation beta source? (90-sr?)