Material identification by fingerprinting
In recent years it has become common practice to screen all incoming production materials within the pharmaceutical community. This practice limits both waste and product liability.
As the benchtop energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) technique does not significantly heat samples it is applicable for both organic and inorganic material testing. Furthermore, as a simultaneous technique, detecting all energies and additional sample features, it is well suited for rapid material identification.
This tech paper shows that a EDXRF spectrometer is fully capable of identifying materials. The examples in this paper are common materials used in the production of pharmaceutical products.
The fingerprinting technique is applicable to all materials including liquids, powders and solids.