DETERMINATION OF ALUMINUM, TITANIUM, NIOBIUM AND VANADIUM IN LOW-ALLOYED STEELS BY SPARK ABLATION COUPLED WITH INDUCTIVELY COUPLED PLASMA ATOMIC EMISSION-SPECTROMETRY

A medium-voltage spark at a high repetition rate, coupled with excitation in an argon inductively coupled plasma (ICP) was applied to the direct determination of Al, Ti, Nb and V in low-alloyed steels. Tests were conducted using Bureau of Analysed Samples reference materials, series 451/1-455/1 and 456/1-460/1. A comparative evaluation of the analytical performances obtained with spark optical emission spectrometry, ICP with pneumatic nebulization and spark ablation inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry is given. The analytical parameters evaluated are the limit of detection, signal to background ratio, background equivalent concentration and relative standard deviation.