ATOMIC SPECTROMETRY UPDATE INDUSTRIAL ANALYSIS - METALS, CHEMICALS AND ADVANCED MATERIALS

There are two main themes which emerge from an assessment of the literature on which this ASU is based. There is a clear requirement to improve the efficiency of analytical methodology to cope with the ever increasing demands of disparate industrial technologies. While there is still an element of the analyte-specific approach to solving problems, (e.g., in speciation in the petroleum industry) it is evident that generic solutions are required. Rapid, highly sensitive multi-element detection systems, once the panacea of the atomic spectroscopist, have now become a reality, exposing the limitations of conventional regimes for preparing solid samples. Much research is therefore being devoted to direct solid sampling, and this raised questions regarding the homogeneity and structural nature of the material to be analysed. As a consequence, atomic spectrometric methods are beginning to provide the sort of information about samples which might once have been considered in the domain of surface analysis. Abstracting coverage has been widened since last year's review to encompass MS and surface analysis techniques which provide such elemental information. It is evident that the previously clear division between "bulk" and "surface" analysis is now somewhat blurred, and it will be interesting to see, from an industrial standpoint at least, if there will be any synergistic benefits arising from this interdisciplinary interface.