Nickel Sample

Nickel Sample

The results from the SEM for the Nickel Sample which is one of six samples in the stage provided by Dr. McColgan and Dr. Hassel. The elemental map of the sample and a spectrum of elements present in the sample was obtained from the microscope. The spectrum is quantified to get a percentage composition of the elements that were detected in the sample.

The elemental map of the sample with a specific color for each element is shown below;

The spectrum of the elements that were counted is shown in the image below; 

Image of the section in the sample that was used to find the elemental composition is shown below;

The percentage composition of each element that was considered to be primarily present in the sample is shown in the table below. Elements such as Carbon and Oxygen were neglected since they are abundant in the air or present in the stage where the sample was placed.

Element	AN	series	[wt.%]	[norm. wt.%]	[norm. at.%]	Error in wt.% (1 Sigma)
Chromium	24	K-series	0.867162	0.896885	1.011241	0.049409
Nickel	28	K-series	95.81883	99.10312	98.98876	2.389692
		Sum:	96.68599	100	100

The peak energy values of each of the elements in samples that were primarily presented can be seen in the horizontal axis of the spectrum shown above. The peak values were manually recorded as listed below;

Nickel (Z - 28): 0.749 keV, 0.854 keV, 7.480 keV (K-Alpha), 8.264 keV (K-Beta)

Chromium (Z - 24); 5.416 keV (K-Alpha)

The actual K-Alpha and K-Beta values for elements can be looked up using the Characteristic X-ray Line Energies table attached in the posts of the other samples including the stage of all the samples that was analyzed.

 Below is the data we collected using the HD Prime X-Ray Flourescence (XRF) Analyzer: