Direct analysis of tantalum powders by electrothermal vaporization inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry

A direct inductively coupled plasma atomic emission method for the determination of Ag, Al, As, Ca, Cd, Co, Cu, Fe, Ga, K, Li, Mg, Na and Pb in high-purity tantalum powders has been developed. The electrothermal vaporization technique using a modified longitudinally-heated Grun-ETAAS furnace with sample introduction on a platform and an automated sampling workstation provided 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 analyte wavelengths used was determined and the analyte signals of each sample run were automatically corrected. Limits of detection ranging from 5 ng/g (Ag, Cu) to 250 ng/g (K, Pb) were obtained using optimized furnace and spectrometer conditions. The method was applied to the analysis of two tantalum samples and the results for Cu, Fe, K, Mg and Na were compared with those obtained by liquid and solid-samping ETAAS, showing satisfactory agreement.