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A candidate material for the use as primary standard for silver determination was characterized with respect to total purity. Except the radioactive elements and He, all possible impurities were considered. Based on glow discharge mass spectrometry, inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry and carrier gas hot extraction measurements, the demonstrated total purity and its standard uncertainty is w(Ag) = (99.999 52 ± 0.000 11) %. The purity value and its uncertainty is dominated by the contributions from the measurements of the nonmetallic impurities, namely S, N, C and O.
Millions of measurements are performed each year by liquid based analytical atomic spectrometry to support healthcare, diagnostic tests, environmental monitoring, material assay, product development and safety. Despite the effort to develop absolute methods, most methods still depend on calibration solutions, which are gravimetric mixtures of high purity solvents and high purity (source material) metals or compounds. As in the real world ideal purity does not exist, the impurity of the solvent and the purity of the source material needs to be known. The impurity of a solvent with respect to one analyte can be measured rather easily and with low limits of determination. In contrast the measurement of the purity of the source material, i.e., the mass fraction of the main constituent in a high purity metal, is more difficult to determine. It becomes even more difficult when the source material is not a pure metal but a compound since problems regarding stoichiometry arise additionally. Although the major producers of calibration solutions make a special effort to determine the purity of the source material, the actual purity statement is often incomplete or not demonstrated. The main reason for this situation is the complexity and high effort necessary to fully characterize such a material. This problem holds to a very wide extent also for the primary standards for element determination at the National Metrology Institutes and Designated Institutes (NMIs and DIs). It is the task of the NMIs and DIs to realise and disseminate primary standards for providing traceability to the International System of Units (SI). The primary elemental standards at the NMIs should provide the link to secondary standards produced by commercial producers and other independently prepared standards for element determination. Without such primary standards, elemental calibration solutions may vary and, depending on the uncertainty required, comparability of measurement in time and space results cannot be achieved.
The results of analytical measurements performed with solid-sampling techniques are affected by the distribution of the analytes within the matrix. The effect becomes significant in case of determination of trace elements in small subsamples. In this framework we propose a measurement model based on Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis to determine the relative variability of the amount of an analyte among subsamples of a material. The measurement uncertainty is evaluated and includes the counting statistics, the full-energy gamma peak efficiency and the spatial gradient of the neutron flux at the irradiation position. The data we obtained in a neutron activation experiment and showing the relative variability of As, Au, Ir, Sb and W among subsamples of a highly pure Rh foil are also presented.
Fast flow glow discharge mass spectrometry with a Grimm-type ion source providing a high sputter rate was used for the determination of major nonmetallic impurities in magnesium. The analytical signal was found to be strongly influenced by the electrical discharge parameters. For calibration by standard addition, synthetic standard samples were produced in two different ways—namely, by pressing and by sintering doped metal powders. The observed sensitivity of the calibration curves was shown to depend on the particle size of the powder. For the magnesium powders, the mass fractions of oxygen, nitrogen, boron, and silicon were determined to be about 0.01 kg·kg-1 (relative standard deviation approximately 10–20 %), 2,700 mg·kg-1, 150 mg·kg-1, and 300 mg·kg-1, respectively.
Gravimetrically prepared mono-elemental reference solutions having a well-known mass fraction of approximately 1 g/kg (or a mass concentration of 1 g/L) define the very basis of virtually all measurements in inorganic analysis. Serving as the starting materials of all standard/calibration solutions, they link virtually all measurements of inorganic analytes (regardless of the method applied) to the purity of the solid materials (high-purity metals or salts) they were prepared from. In case these solid materials are characterized comprehensively with respect to their purity, this link also establishes direct metrological traceability to The International System of Units (SI). This, in turn, ensures the comparability of all results on the highest level achievable. Several national metrology institutes (NMIs) and designated institutes (DIs) have been working for nearly two decades in close cooperation with commercial producers on making an increasing number of traceable reference solutions available. Besides the comprehensive characterization of the solid starting materials, dissolving them both loss-free and completely under strict gravimetric control is a challenging problem in the case of several elements like molybdenum and rhodium. Within the framework of the European Metrology Research Programme (EMRP), in the Joint Research Project (JRP) called SIB09 Primary standards for challenging elements, reference solutions of molybdenum and rhodium were prepared directly from the respective metals with a relative expanded uncertainty associated with the mass fraction of Urel(w)<0.05 %. To achieve this, a microwave-assisted digestion procedure for Rh and a hotplate digestion procedure for Mo were developed along with highly accurate and precise inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP OES) and multicollector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (MC-ICP-MS) methods required to assist with the preparation and as dissemination tools.
In carrier gas hot extraction the calibration of low amounts of non-metals with masses of a few micrograms with small uncertainty remains a challenge. To achieve high flexibility a high precision gas mixture pump was combined with an automated syringe drive. The gas mixing pump allows filling the syringe with different gas compositions; the automated syringe drive allows matching to modulate the signal profiles to those of real samples. The system was designed and its experimental potential explored. The resulting calibration curves were comparable to those obtained by calibration using solid materials of sufficient purity and stoichiometry. However smaller uncertainties and lower limits of quantification (i.e. 0.5 µg and 0.6 µg for O and N, respectively) were found using the gas calibration device.
For the first time, an international comparison was conducted on the determination of the purity of a high purity element. Participants were free to choose any analytical approach appropriate for their institute’s applications and services. The material tested was a high purity zinc, which had earlier been assessed for homogeneity and previously used in CCQM-K72 for the determination of six defined metallic impurities. Either a direct metal assay of the Zn mass fraction was undertaken by EDTA titrimetry, or an indirect approach was used wherein all impurities, or at least the major ones, were determined and their sum subtracted from ideal purity of 100 %, or 1 kg/kg. Impurity assessment techniques included glow discharge mass spectrometry, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and carrier gas hot extraction/combustion analysis. Up to 91 elemental impurities covering metals, non-metals and semi-metals/metalloids were quantified. Due to the lack of internal experience or experimental capabilities, some participants contracted external laboratories for specific analytical tasks, mainly for the analysis of non-metals. The reported purity, expressed as zinc mass fraction in the high purity zinc material, showed excellent agreement for all participants, with a relative standard deviation of 0.011 %. The calculated reference value, w(Zn) = 0.999 873 kg/kg, was assigned an asymmetric combined uncertainty of + 0.000025 kg/kg and – 0.000028 kg/kg. Comparability amongst participating metrology institutes is thus demonstrated for the purity determination of high purity metals which have no particular difficulties with their decomposition / dissolution process when solution-based analytical methods are used, or which do not have specific difficulties when direct analysis approaches are used. Nevertheless, further development is required in terms of uncertainty assessment, quantification of non-metals and the determination of purity of less pure elements and/or for those elements suffering difficulties with the decomposition process.
Within the Working Group on Inorganic Analysis (IAWG) of the Consultative Committee for Amount of Substance: Metrology in Chemistry and Biology (CCQM) international key comparisons and pilot studies related to inorganic analysis are carried to ensure consistency in this field at the highest level. Some of these comparisons deal directly with the preparation and characterization of monoelemental solutions or with topics, closely related. The importance of monoelemental solutions lies in the fact that almost every measurement in inorganic analysis relies on the comparison with either a reference material, or references in form of solutions, usually (mono)elemental solutions. All quantitative measurement approaches, e.g. isotope dilution or standard addition, need an accurate reference solution made from a well characterized reference material, prepared under full gravimetric control. These primary (monoelemental) solutions do not only serve as arbitrary references/calibration solutions, but they also link up measurement results to the International System of units (SI), this way establishing the so-called metrological traceability to a measurement unit of the SI. Without such solutions on the highest possible level of accuracy and with the smallest possible associated uncertainties (for e.g. element content and/or impurities), an analysis itself can never be as good as it could be with appropriate reference solutions. This article highlights select key comparisons and pilot studies dealing with monoelemental solution related topics within the IAWG from the foundation of CCQM – 25 years ago – up to latest achievements in the field of inorganic analysis.
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).