Comparative study on the homogeneity of polymeric calibration materials using LA-ICP-MS

Abstract

The production of polymeric calibration standard materials with sufficient homogeneity for the calibration of analytical methods with high lateral resolution like LA-ICP-MS was investigated. An index η* was introduced to compare the homogeneities of different acrylonitrile butadiene styrene terpolymer (ABS) based samples. It was demonstrated, that elements present in organic compounds could be introduced into polymeric materials with a higher homogeneity than inorganic compounds without special treatment. For organic Br compounds, a 20 to 30 times higher value for η* was found than it was for the case of AgBr. For Pb stearate and Pb acetate, 10 times higher values for η* were found than was the case for PbCrO4. For PbO, it is shown that multiple extrusion and mechanical treatment can improve the homogeneity of certain inorganic compounds as particle sizes are decreased during the extrusion.