Browsing by Author "Agaian, David"

Particle Induced X-ray Emission (PIXE) is a nondestructive Ion Beam Analysis (IBA) technique that can be used for identifying elements in a sample. In PIXE, the radiation emitted by electron state changes is measured, after which emissions are recorded as spectral peaks. Each element is then identified based on its unique spectral peak. PIXE analysis has been carried out using a 3 MeV proton beam generated with the aid of TAMIA 5 MV EGP-10-II tandem accelerator of the Department of Physics, University of Helsinki, at the Helsinki Accelerator Laboratory in Kumpula. The external PIXE measurement setup in the accelerator laboratory has been prepared to study nine coins from 18th to 20th centuries and from different countries (Russia, USSR, Romania, France, and Portugal). The coins have been irradiated in the external PIXE setup, in which x-rays have been then detected by an x-ray detector. Two different detectors have been employed in the measurements: a KETEK AXAS-D Silicon Drift Detector (SDD) for detecting x-rays of every coin, and a Canberra GUL0110 Ultra-Low Energy Germanium (Ultra-LEGe) detector for detecting x-rays of silver coins. After PIXE spectra have been obtained, PyMCA software has been used for the elemental analysis of the data. In the present study, various elements have been found from the measured PIXE spectra. In silver coins, the following 10 elements have been specified: Ag, Cu, As, Pb, Fe, Sb, Ni, Zn, Sn and Bi. In nickel plated steel coin observed elements are Fe, Ni, Co, and Cu. Copper-zinc-nickel alloy coins have been found to consist of Cu, Zn, Ni, Fe, and Mn. Copper-nickel alloy coins have been investigated to be made of Cu, Ni, Fe, and Mn. This study verifies that the external PIXE technique can be utilized as a practical tool to identify elements in metallurgical samples.