Patent ID: 8751169
Filing Date: 2014-06-10
Classification: C04B,G01N,Y10T

Abstract:
1. A method of identifying a source of a vermiculite sample in situ, comprising: providing a plurality of source area classes, the source area classes comprising Class 1, Class 2, Class 3, Class 4, and Class 5; determining compositional field boundaries for each source area class, from spectral measurements of vermiculite materials of known origin, according to band depth ratios for absorption bands centered at 1.38 and 2.32 microns, each source area class having a range of 1.38/2.32-micron band depth ratios, the range of each source area class comprising: obtaining a plurality of near infrared reflectance spectral measurements at a plurality of locations within a sample of unknown origin; obtaining an average of the spectral measurements of the sample; calculating band depths of the averaged spectral measurements for absorption bands centered at wavelengths of 1.38, 1.40, 1.42, 2.24, 2.32, and 2.38 microns; calculating band depth ratios for the 1.38- and 2.32-micron absorption bands (1.38/2.32 ratio), the 2.24- and 2.38-micron absorption bands (2.24/2.38 ratio), and the 1.40- and 1.42-micron absorption bands (1.40/1.42 ratio); identifying the source of the sample by comparing the 1.38/2.32 ratio of the sample to the range of 1.38/2.32 ratios of each source area class to determine into which source area class the sample fits to arrive at a classification result; and representing the classification result to a user.