TY - JOUR A1 - Merchel, Silke A1 - Berger, Achim T1 - Determination of nitrogen in boron carbide by instrumental photon activation analysis JF - Analytical and bioanalytical chemistry N2 - Boron carbide is widely used as industrial material, because of its extreme hardness, and as a neutron absorber. As part of a round-robin exercise leading to certification of a new reference material (ERM-ED102) which was demanded by the industry we analysed nitrogen in boron carbide by inert gas fusion analysis (GFA) and instrumental photon activation analysis (IPAA) using the 14N(γ,n)13N nuclear reaction. The latter approach is the only non-destructive method among all the methods applied. By using photons with energy below the threshold of the 12C(γ,n)11C reaction, we hindered activation of matrix and other impurities. A recently installed beam with a very low lateral activating flux gradient enabled us to homogeneously activate sample masses of approximately 1 g. Taking extra precautions, i.e. self-absorption correction and deconvolution of the complex decay curves, we calculated a nitrogen concentration of 2260 ± 100 µg g-1, which is in good agreement with our GFA value of 2303 ± 64 µg g-1. The values are the second and third highest of a rather atypical (non-S-shape) distribution of data of 14 round-robin participants. It is of utmost importance for the certification process that our IPAA value is the only one not produced by inert gas fusion analysis and, therefore, the only one which is not affected by a possible incomplete release of nitrogen from high-melting boron carbide. KW - Nitrogen KW - Reference materials KW - Gas fusion analysis KW - Photon activation analysis PY - 2007 DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-007-1217-z SN - 1618-2642 SN - 1618-2650 VL - 388 IS - 2 SP - 385 EP - 389 PB - Springer CY - Berlin AN - OPUS4-16149 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -