Determination of tellurium in a nickel-based alloy by flow injection vaporgeneration inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

A simple and inexpensive laboratory-built vapor generator was used with ind uctively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) for the determination of Te in nickel-based superalloys. Various reagents were tested as the maskin g agent for the alleviation of transition metals interferences. After evalu ation, a mixture of 0.1% m/v L-cysteine and 0.5% m/v thiourea was used as t he masking agent. The applications of vapor generation GIG) ICP-MS alleviat ed the non-spectroscopic interferences and sensitivity problems encountered when a conventional pneumatic nebulizer was used for sample introduction. The concentration of Te was determined by the isotope dilution method and s tandard additions method. The isotope ratio of Te was calculated from the p eak areas of each injection peak. The repeatability of the peak areas and i sotope ratio determinations of five consecutive injections of 5 ng ml(-1) T e solution was 2.1% and 2.3%, respectively. This method has a detection lim it of 27 ng g(-1) for Te in a nickel-based alloy. This method was applied t o determine Te in NIST Tracealloy SRM 897-899. The results agreed satisfact orily with the reference values. Accuracy was better than 5%. The precision between sample replicates was better than 8% for all the determinations.