BENEFITS OF A DUAL-VIEW ICP-OES FOR THE DETERMINATION OF BORON, PHOSPHORUS, AND SULFUR IN LOW-ALLOY STEELS

This study investigates the use of inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) for the determination of boron, phosph orus, and sulfur in steel. Historically, this analysis has been perfor med by either X-ray fluorescence or arc/spark emission or by tradition al wet chemistry when sample size restricted the use of solid sampling techniques. A series of NIST low allow SRMs were analyzed using a dua l-view ICP-OES that was configured to view the plasma both radially (s ide-on) and axially (end-on). The axial plasma offers an approximately 5-10 times improvement in detection limit, while the radial plasma ma intains superior linear dynamic range and chemical/matrix performance. The benefit of the dual-view design over traditional technology is th at if the elemental concentrations are too low for the radial-view con figuration, they can be determined using the axial-view configuration. Accuracy and precision data will be presented for B, P, and S in the NIST SRM 361-365 series by both radial and axial viewing.