TY - JOUR AU - Miler, Miloš AU - Mirtič, Breda PY - 2013/06/30 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - Accuracy and precision of EDS analysis for identification of metal-bearing minerals in polished and rough particle samples JF - Geologija JA - geologija VL - 56 IS - 1 SE - Articles DO - 10.5474/geologija.2013.001 UR - https://www.geologija-revija.si/index.php/geologija/article/view/1253 SP - 5 - 17 AB - The study was carried out in order to estimate reliability of EDS analysis for identification of various natural and anthropogenic metal-bearing phases in polished and rough particle samples of stream Sediments. For this purpose, the accuracy and precision of EDS analysis were assessed. Results of the precision measurements showed that the overall relative standard deviation of EDS measurements was 8 % for polished samples and 24 % for rough particle samples and was within acceptable limits for most of major elements and some of the elements present in minor or trace contents in the analysed metal-bearing phases. The random analytical fluctuations were considered negligible and phase compositions could be determined with sufficient reliability in individual grains of each phase. The overall average relative error for all elements amounted to about 12 %, which was within acceptable limits for accuracy in EDS analysis of polished samples. Chemical formulae and identification of mineral species of metal-bearing phases were thus calculated from atomic ratios between constituent elements with sufficient accuracy. A comparison between EDS measurements in polished and rough particle samples using the Welch's t-test showed that about 38 % of studied metal-bearing phases could be identified with sufficient reliability by EDS analysis of rough particle samples. The results of this study demonstrated that elemental composition of metal-bearing phases in polished and rough particle samples was mostly determined with sufficient precision and accuracy using EDS analyses. ER -