Accurate and precise spectrochemical analysis of Bi-Pb-Sr-Ca-Cu-O high-temperature superconductor materials

For quality tests of ceramic Bi-Pb-Sr-Ca-Cu-O superconductor materials (pre cursors and final products) accurate stoichiometric determinations of the m etallic major components are necessary. Three methods were developed during the last decade in our group. Their properties and the results obtained ar e compared. The first classical analytical procedure requires to much manpo wer. The second combined chemical-spectrometric procedure is a routine meth od today, but also unsuitable for rapid tests. A new fully spectrometric pr ocedure was recently developed using a simultaneously working Echelle spect rometer with CID detector, autosampler and a special self-made data evaluat ion software. The basis of this method are multiline measurements of each a nalyte element, a new method of spectral line selection for main component precision determinations, multi-component calibrations, and frequent extern al standardizations. For this method the sum of the confidence intervals of all element determinations was less than 1%, and no systematic error was d etected.