[TowerTalk] Help identifying alloy in mast

[Richard Smith]

 With the XRF gun, care must be taken not to be thrown off track. The XRF gun looks at the chemical composition of the surface of the metal. Plating has to be removed (which I think was already recognized in the email chain). In one experience here at work, we were thrown off track performing XRF to check the chemical composition of an older piece of metal. The XRF measured the chemical composition of the very thin layer of corrosion (so thin that it was not considered by the engineers involved), and we originally thought we had the wrong alloy. After removing the very thin corrosion layer, it turned out that it was the correct alloy.
73, Rich, N6KT

    On Monday, February 10, 2020, 10:15:44 AM PST, Charles Gallo <charlie at thegallos.com> wrote:  
 
 On 2020-02-10 10:35, john at kk9a.com wrote:
> ... They have an analysis gun that can show the chemical
> composition of carbon steel....

They are known as a XRF gun, or a Metal Alloy tester - They cost in the 
ballpark of 30K-50K new.  I see them on eBay for 3K-8K.  They basically 
are doing X-Ray Floroscopy, hence the XRF


-- 
Charles Gallo
http://www.thegallos.com
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