Atomic Spectroscopy

September 13, 2016

Teledyne Leeman Labs QuickTrace® M7600 was used to analyze and determine total elemental mercury (Hg0) concentration in Tuna (CRM 463) following the guidance in USDA Method CLG-MERC1.01 and the operating conditions.

September 08, 2016

A PFA cyclonic spray chamber was used with an HR-ICP-MS for the measurement of trace element/calcium ratios in foraminiferal calcite. The signal stability and washout were studied.

August 16, 2016

The measurement of chromium (Cr) conversion coating on aluminum is demonstrated.

July 15, 2016

The measurement of Cr, Hg, Pb, Br and Cd in polyethylene (PE) is demonstrated for RoHS rapid screening by XRF. Energy Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence (EDXRF) is employed for rapid screening and quantification according to RoHS norms.

July 13, 2016

Guide to Speciation: What is Speciation? Who Should be Concerned with Speciation Testing? What are the Obstacles to Adapting to Speciation Testing?

June 15, 2016

Quality control and quality assurance during the lube oil blending and manufacturing process is essential. Basic lube oil formulations containing only P, S, Ca and Zn are often augmented with additional elements and additives to create lubricating oils for specific needs.. This report demonstrates the measurement of Mg, Si, P, S, Cl, Ca, Zn, Ba and Mo in new lube oils is using the empirical approach.

June 03, 2016

Preparing soil samples for pesticide analysis is a crucial step in ensuring the safety of all consumers. Typical soil samples for analysis are often a heterogeneous mix that are unable to be directly analyzed; thus, the handling and homogenizing of the sample must conducted with the proper tools and techniques in order to obtain a reproducible and meaningful result.

May 18, 2016

Semi-quantitative analysis in modern XRF instruments is a unique method which is performed without reference materials for the unknown samples. This report demonstrates determination of chemical composition in geological samples using semi-quantitative analysis by the pressed powder method on a WDXRF spectrometer.

May 13, 2016

EPA methods 200.7 and 6010 specify ICP; however, analysis of the major components may involve dilution of off-scale peaks, making the analysis more difficult. This work demonstrates a method that uses low-sensitivity analytical lines for the high-concentration major components and high-sensitivity analytical lines for the low-concentration trace components. This eliminates the need for multiple dilutions to get major elements on-scale.

May 01, 2016

Selecting the correct wavelengths or isotopes and optimizing flame, furnace, or plasma conditions can seem a daunting task for a novice user, with a multitude of opportunities to introduce errors and generate poor quality data. While most elemental analysis instruments have intuitive operating software, they lack the intelligence to guide the operator through the early stages of method development and overcome associated problems along the way. This study describes an automated, intelligent approach to method development for trace element analysis using optical emission spectroscopy, and exemplifies this capability with a suite of real-world sample matrices.