Comparison of methodologies of gamma ray spectrometer and X-ray fluorescence

Abstract

Gamma-ray spectrometric analysis is often considered as an ideal method for thorium analysis, which would otherwise require the use of more tedious, time consuming and often less precise chemical methods. With the development of rare earth research, X-ray fluorescence spectrometry analysis has become an important means of rare earth elements analysis and has been playing an increasingly important role. In the present study, the XRF-spectrometry and gamma-spectrometric techniques have been carried out in determining the concentration of thorium in monazite bearing sand samples. Monazite is the principal source of thorium and the rare earth elements but its composition and the distribution may vary within very wide limits. Both XRF and Gamma-ray spectrometry techniques use uncharged radiation, although of different in origin, to identify and estimate concentrations of elements present in the sample. However, the XRF method is much quicker and the amount of sample needed for analysis is much less compared to gamma spectrometry analysis. The correlation study of the results obtained by these two methods was analysed and compared.