USE OF NORMALIZED RELATIVE LINE-INTENSITIES FOR QUALITATIVE AND SEMIQUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS IN INDUCTIVELY-COUPLED PLASMA-ATOMIC EMISSION-SPECTROMETRY USING A CUSTOM SEGMENTED-ARRAY CHARGE-COUPLED-DEVICE DETECTOR .3. APPLICATION TO LASER-ABLATION

In a previously published work, a procedure based on both line correla tion and normalized line intensity ratios was described to perform qua litative analysis in inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectr ometry based on the use of solutions. In this work, this procedure was applied to dry aerosols obtained by UV laser ablation. Since the proc edure relies on the comparison of experimental normalized intensity ra tios with stored normalized intensity ratios usually obtained by using synthetic solutions, a limitation was observed because it was found t hat wet and dry aerosols resulted in different plasma conditions and, therefore, different normalized intensity ratios. This limitation was overcome in the present work by adding a small amount of hydrogen (40 mL min(-1)) to the gas which carried the ablated material. Plasma cond itions were then similar to those observed with aqueous solutions. Goo d agreement in terms of the normalized intensity ratios was obtained f or different types of ablated materials such as steel, glass, and poly mers.