A solid sampling electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry method for direct determination of silicon in titanium pieces

Abstract

A direct solid sampling electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry method using a transversely heated graphite tube and the boat technique was developed for the determination of silicon in titanium metal pieces. To facilitate the atomisation of silicon from the titanium matrix, carbon powder and Pd–Mg(NO₃)₂ were used as modifiers. Sample amounts of up to 6 mg could be applied per atomisation. Quantification was performed by using calibration curves measured with aqueous standard solution pipetted onto the matrix residue from the previous sample run. In checking the accuracy, good agreement of the results with those of two independent methods was achieved. The method provides a limit of detection of 30 ng g⁻¹.