DETERMINATION OF THE OPTIMUM CONDITIONS FOR TITANIUM TRACE ANALYSIS BY ICP-AES - COMPARISON WITH NEUTRON-ACTIVATION

The influence of alpha-radiation on the growth and dissolution process es of anodic oxide films formed on titanium in 1 M H2SO4 was studied u sing electrochemical methods and ICP-AES. The parameters of ICP-AES we re optimised with respect to both accuracy and detection limits. The i nfluence of blank signal variation is discussed. The lowest detection limit achieved by ICP-AES was 0.002 mg l-1. Neutron activation analysi s gave an absolute detection limit of 0.02 mug; the relative limit dep ends on the volume of the aliquot (0.0002 mg l-1 for 100 ml). The anal yses showed a strong effect of alpha-radiation on the corrision of tit anium, leading to an increased dissolution. The effect depends on the energy of the alpha-particles and is maximum near 1.6 MeV.