Keep them handy—the rise of handheld XRF instruments
Lakshman Koundinya, Industry Analyst, Frost & Sullivan www.frost.com -- Test & Measurement World, 8/1/2007 2:00:00 AM
One of the most significant trends in the x-ray instrumentation market has been the emergence of handheld x-ray fluorescence (XRF) analyzers. Although bench systems have been more popular in the past for elemental analysis, there has been an exceptional rise in the demand for handheld XRF systems in the past year. In fact, the market exceeded the $100 million mark in 2006 and is expected to continue to grow in the future.
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Worldwide handheld XRF revenues will grow as a percentage of the total XRF market, driven in part by the new RoHS and WEEE directives. Source: Frost & Sullivan. |
How is this possible considering that until even recently end users have had many apprehensions about using handheld systems? The key here has been the development of low-power x-ray tubes that do not rely on radioactive materials.
The growth of the handheld instruments market is mainly attributed to the European Union’s (EU’s) Regulation of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) directive and the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive. These directives restrict metals such as Pb, Hg, Cd, Cr, and Br in products, thereby providing significant growth opportunities for handheld XRF system vendors.
XRF has emerged as the main technology used to screen products for regulatory compliance. Moreover, the scarcity of many metals in developing economies such as China, Russia, and India has led to handheld XRF instruments playing a major role in the mining industries. The boom in manufacturing activity, especially in the metals industry, has further driven the demand for XRF instruments.
With the advancement in technology, handheld XRF systems have evolved into systems that offer greater detection capabilities while also meeting the demands of the RoHS and WEEE directives. Furthermore, handheld instruments are less expensive than bench equipment, and their ability to analyze small parts made of various materials has been instrumental in generating demand for them.
Although bench instruments provide much more conclusive results for compliance, handheld XRF analyzers are becoming increasingly preferred as screening tools by a wide range of end user industries such as energy and power, aerospace, metallurgy, and geology. The popularity of handheld instruments is driven by their portability and their ability to rapidly analyze, identify, and characterize a wide range of elements, along with the fact that little technical expertise is needed to operate them. Thermo Fisher Scientific, Bruker Biosciences, Innov-X Systems, Spectro, and Oxford Instruments are some of the leading participants in this market. They are competing to develop handheld instruments with performance levels approaching bench equipment but at a lower price.
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