Kc. Friese et V. Krivan, Direct analysis of tantalum powders by electrothermal vaporization inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry, FRESEN J AN, 364(1-2), 1999, pp. 72-78
A direct inductively coupled plasma atomic emission method for the determin
ation of Ag, Al, As, Ca, Cd, Co, Cu, Fe, Ga, K, Li, Mg, Na and Pb in high-p
urity tantalum powders has been developed. The electrothermal vaporization
technique using a modified longitudinally-heated Grun-ETAAS furnace with sa
mple introduction on a platform and an automated sampling workstation provi
ded the possibility of in situ analyte-matrix separation, freedom of blank,
and applicability to routine analysis. Hard- and software were modified to
allow signal recording and data processing independent of the spectrometer
software. The extent of spectral interferences by Ta-emission at the analy
te wavelengths used was determined and the analyte signals of each sample r
un were automatically corrected. Limits of detection ranging from 5 ng/g (A
g, Cu) to 250 ng/g (K, Pb) were obtained using optimized furnace and spectr
ometer conditions. The method was applied to the analysis of two tantalum s
amples and the results for Cu, Fe, K, Mg and Na were compared with those ob
tained by liquid and solid-samping ETAAS, showing satisfactory agreement.