Gallium chloride is easily extracted from 6M HCl by comminuted polyeth
er-type polyurethane foam. After the extraction step, the gallium abso
rbed by the PU foam can be quantitatively determined by X-ray fluoresc
ence. A procedure for the direct determination of gallium absorbed by
PU foam by XRFS is thus described. Gallium is determined at levels as
low as 60 ng/ml (C-L), with a calibration sensitivity of 424 cps.ml/mu
g, within a linear range 0.1-2.30 mu g/ml. The procedure investigated
was successfully applied to determination of gallium in aluminum allo
ys, bauxite and industrial residue samples.