University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Abstract

Owing to the increased demands from society for reliable/certified analytical results, x-ray fluorescence laboratories face an urgent need for quality management system (QMS) implementation, in particular complying with the general requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories of the latest approved ISO standard (ISO/IEC 17025: 2005). Some specific features of energy dispersive x-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) techniques require a careful interpretation of some concepts related to method validation and quality control. This paper presents some thoughts on how to assess the traceability of the results and to evaluate the characteristics of performance of the analytical methods, including linearity, working range, precision, trueness and detection limits. Typical examples of EDXRF analytical techniques are provided for illustration, as well as some recommendations to quantify the uncertainty of the results. Copyright (c) 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.