Ultrasonic grinding of fine ceramics for inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry using slurry nebulization technique

Abstract

An ultrasonic internecine grinding technique was investigated for the direct slurry nebulization of sintered fine ceramics in inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry. A sample block was ground with the same sample pestle fixed on an ultrasonic horn along with the same sample coarsely crushed in water for 10 min. The finely ground sample of 10–20 mg (0.5–0.7 µm in mean particle size) was obtained with ultrasonic vibration. The pH of the resultant slurry was adjusted to 12 with tetramethylammonium hydroxide. This slurry was stable and easily nebulized through an ordinary sample introduction system with the similar sensitivity to aqueous standard solutions. The present method was successfully applied to analyses of sintered ZrO₂–Al₂O₃ ceramic materials.