Applied Rigaku Technologies, Inc. today announced a new empirical method for the elemental analysis of analysis of titanium and iron in kaolin clay. Application Note #1187 demonstrates the effectiveness of the filtered direct excitation design of the Rigaku NEX QC energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) analyzer for analysis during the QA/QC process in the production of clay-based products.

Kaolin clay has a broad range of uses, from pottery and ceramics to coated paper and as an additive in toothpastes and cosmetics. It is also widely used in the production of paper. The titanium and iron present affect the color and physical properties of the clay, and so must be closely monitored throughout QA/QC processes to ensure proper ratios for each given product type.

For this application the samples were ground to