Determination of yttrium and lanthanum in zirconium dioxide by HPLC, X-rayfluorescence and neutron activation analyses

Lanthania- and yttria-stabilized zirconium oxide ceramics have been examine d using High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC), thermal neutron acti vation (NA) and X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) analyses and thus determine the st abilizer content. Ceramic powders with the composition. ZrO2:x mol % La2O3 (x = 5, 10, 15, 20 and 33) and ZrO2:x mol % Y2O3 (x = 10, 15, 20 and 25) we re prepared by the citrate and the co-precipitation techniques, respectivel y. The lanthanum content was determined by HPLC (x = 5.09, 9.78, 14.98, 19. 81 and 25.94) and NA (x- = 5.15, 10.32, 17.25, 21.08 and 27.97) analyses, t he yttrium content by HPLC (x = 8.5, 13.5, 17.9 and 22.1) and XRF (x = 9.9, 15.8, 20.1 and 24.9) analyses. An experimental sequence, based on continuo us dilution of ceramic powder solutions, is proposed for preparing samples for HPLC measurements. A swimming pool nuclear reactor is used for NA analy sis. The quantitative determinations of yttrium and lanthanum doping levels obtained using those techniques are described.