TY - JOUR A1 - Pisonero, J. A1 - Fandino, J. A1 - Nordlien, J. H A1 - Richter, Silke A1 - Pfeifer, Jens A1 - Quarles, C. D. A1 - Gonzalez, J. A1 - Jakubowski, Norbert A1 - Bordel, N. T1 - Improving the analytical performance of pulsed-GD-SFMS for multi-elemental depth profile analysis of heat-treated Zn coatings on extruded aluminium JF - Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry N2 - The formation of diffusion layers on Zn layers deposited on Al substrates is mainly used to prevent corrosion effects. Evaluation of the influence exerted by different coating methodologies and heat treatments on the formation of these diffusion layers is of great interest for the aluminium industry. Particularly, multi-elemental in-depth distributions of major, minor and trace elements in Zn-coatings is highly demanded before and after heat treatments. A fast characterization of these materials require a direct solid analytical technique able to provide high sensitivity and high depth resolution. For this purpose, an improved analytical method based on the use of pulsed glow discharge sector field mass spectrometry (pulsed-GD-SFMS) is investigated. Glow discharge operating parameters (e.g. pulse duration, pulse frequency), glow discharge source design (e.g. flow tube lengths), and SFMS mass spectra acquisition conditions (e.g. integration time) are evaluated to achieve low sputtering rates, high mass spectra acquisition rates and improved depth resolution. At the optimize conditions Zn coatings deposited by arc-spray and electrodeposition are analysed before and after heat treatments to evaluate the diffusion of different key elements. Moreover, results are validated using femtosecond laser ablation (fs-LA)-ICP-MS, which provides additional information about the heterogeneous distribution of some elements in the Zn coatings. KW - GDMS KW - Pulsed-GD-SFMS KW - Depht profiling KW - Zn KW - Aluminium PY - 2019 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/c9ja00189a VL - 34 IS - 11 SP - 2252 EP - 2260 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - London AN - OPUS4-49451 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Gonzales-Gago, C. A1 - Smid, P. A1 - Hofmann, T. A1 - Venzago, C. A1 - Hoffmann, V. A1 - Gruner, W. A1 - Pfeifer, Jens A1 - Richter, Silke A1 - Kipphardt, Heinrich T1 - Investigations of matrix independent calibration approaches in fast flow glow discharge mass spectrometry JF - JAAS N2 - The performance of glow discharge mass spectrometry (GD-MS) is investigated for the accurate quantification of metallic impurities and oxygen in solid samples using the fast flow source GD-MS instrument ELEMENT GD. Different quantification approaches based on relative and absolute sensitivity factors are evaluated for the determination of metallic impurities using three sample matrixes (Al, Cu and Zn). The effect of the discharge conditions (voltage, current, discharge gas pressure/flow) on the sensitivity is investigated and the parameters are optimized to favour matrix independent calibrations. Improved standard relative sensitivity factors (StdRSFs) are calculated under optimal conditions based on multi-matrix calibrations. The sputtering rate corrected calibration is also presented as a multi-matrix calibration approach. The capabilities of GD-MS for oxygen determination are also investigated using a set of new conductive samples containing oxygen with mass fractions in the percent range in three different matrices (Al, Mg and Cu) produced by a sintering process. Poor limits of detection (in the order of g/kg) were obtained as consequence of the reduced sensitivity of oxygen in GD-MS and high oxygen background signal intensity as well as its variations. The absolute sensitivity procedure is shown as a matrix-independent approach, which provides quantitative values consistent with those obtained by carrier gas hot extraction (CGHE). KW - Fast flow GD KW - GDMS KW - Calibration KW - Matrix independent calibration PY - 2019 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/c9ja00023b SN - 1364-5544 SN - 0267-9477 VL - 34 IS - 6 SP - 1109 EP - 1125 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - London AN - OPUS4-47842 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -