Steps toward accurate large-area analyses of Genesis solar wind samples: evaluation of surface cleaning methods using total reflection X-ray fluorescence spectrometry
Abstract
Total reflection X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (TXRF) was used to analyze residual surface contamination on Genesis solar wind samples and to evaluate different cleaning methods. To gauge the suitability of a cleaning method, two samples were analyzed following cleaning by lab-based TXRF. The analysis comprised an overview and a crude manual mapping of the samples by orienting them with respect to the incident X-ray beam in such a way that different regions were covered. The results show that cleaning with concentrated hydrochloric acid and a combination of hydrochloric acid and hydrofluoric acid decreased persistent inorganic contaminants substantially on one sample. The application of CO2 snow for surface cleaning tested on the other sample appears to be effective in removing one persistent Genesis contaminant, namely germanium. Unfortunately, the TXRF analysis results of the second sample were impacted by relatively high background contamination. This was mostly due to the relatively small sample size and that the solar wind collector was already mounted with silver glue for resonance ion mass spectrometry (RIMS) on an aluminium stub. Further studies are planned to eliminate this problem. In an effort to identify the location of very persistent contaminants, selected samples were also subjected to environmental scanning electron microscopy. The results showed excellent agreement with TXRF analysis.
Additional Information
© 2012 JCPDS-ICDD. Received 1 March 2012; accepted 10 March 2012. This work was supported by NASA/JPL grant 1369203 and NASA grant NNX10AH05G. The work of I.V.V was supported by NASA through grant NNH09AM48I, and by UChicago Argonne, LLC, under contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11 357. We thank C. E. Tripa for his help in preparing the CO_2 snow cleaned samples.Attached Files
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Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 32894
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20120802-145043285
- 1369203
- NASA/JPL
- NNX10AH05G
- NASA
- NNH09AM48I
- NASA
- DE-AC02-06CH11 357
- UChicago Argonne, LLC
- Created
-
2012-08-02Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
-
2021-11-09Created from EPrint's last_modified field
- Caltech groups
- Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences