Rapid analysis of steel by inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry and -mass spectrometry with laser ablation solid sampling

Abstract

A cw-Q-switched Nd-YAG laser was used in a laser ablation (LA) system for rapid analysis of steel using inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The problems accompanying with the laser ablation (LA) such as the quantity of fine particles produced by LA for different steel samples were resolved by adjusting the laser radiation conditions. Also the contamination from impurities in the argon gas used to produce the ICP was reduced by a zirconium purifier. A rapid method with high accuracy was established for steel analysis. The LA-ICP-AES is very useful for rapid and direct steel analysis in the process of steel production control. On the other hand, the LA-ICP-MS has precisions ranging from 5 to 10% in relative standard deviation (n=10) for most of the elements in steels. LA-ICP-MS without standards was found to have sufficient accuracy for semi-quantitative and direct steel analysis.