Applied Rigaku Technologies, Rigaku Americas’ new R&D, manufacturing, sales, service and support subsidiary dedicated to energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) and associated elemental analysis technologies, has introduced a new method to examine finished cement.
Rigaku NEX QC energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometer (EDXRF)
This method describes the Rigaku NEX QC EDXRF spectrometer’s efficiency for quality control throughout the entire manufacturing process of portland cement, a commonly used and a general purpose cement.
The portland cement is also an essential ingredient of stucco, mortar, concrete and non-specialty grout. Cement facilities across the globe use X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy technique for quality control during the production process. It is necessary to consistently monitor the oxide composition of the finished cement in order to ensure accurate process control, to examine physical properties of the cement and to ensure profitability. EDXRF spectrometer is a testing and quality control system that is commonly used to ensure appropriate composition of gypsum, raw meal mixture balances and feedstocks throughout the cement production process.
Each sample, required for the new method, is prepared by crushing the cement material to a fine homogeneous powder. A 5 gm hydraulically pressed pellet is thus produced by using 20 t pressure for a time period of 30 s. The empirical approach is then used to balance deviations in X-ray absorption and improvement effects in the sample. Applied Rigaku Technologies’ method demonstrates the ability of the NEX QC analyzer in providing cement plants, a strong and reliable low-cost system for quality control measurements.