By Ebatco
Inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES) is an indispensable tool in the determination of elemental composition and concentration down to parts per billion levels in a wide range of sample types. In applications ranging from steel manufacturing to environmental testing to contaminant quantification, it is imperative to accurately determine the elemental composition of a sample. Given this, ICP-OES is an ideal tool to perform quality control, as well as R&D. ICP-OES is a spectroscopic technique that excites atoms and ions and measures the wavelength of the emitted light when electrons return to their lower energy level. To accomplish this, specimens are nebulized and introduced into a high temperature argon plasma. This plasma provides enough energy to excite the atoms, whose emission rays are then measured by a detector. Due to the technique’s ability to measure multiple wavelengths of a single element, as well as utilize methods such as internal standardization and inter-element correction, even samples containing a high number of analytes at varying concentrations can be accurately analyzed. Typical Experimental Results Spectra are collected at each wavelength chosen to be tested. Here, manganese and nickel peaks are measured in a stainless steel sample. An IntelliQuant Analysis was used to provide fast, semi-quantitative data in a tap water sample by measuring over the entire wavelength range of the instrument. Approximate concentrations of up to 70 elements can be calculated without the need to prepare calibration standards. Applications Aerospace Agriculture Alloys Automobile Industry Beverage Coatings Composite Materials Compositional Analysis Contamination Analysis Cosmetics Environmental Extractables Food Food Contamination Forensics Heavy Metal Analysis Leachables Li-ion Batteries Liquids Medical Devices Minerals Mining Nutraceuticals Oils/Lubricants Pharmaceuticals Plastics Polymers Proteins Semiconductors Soil Trace Metal Analysis Waste Water ASTM Standards D5185 Standard Test Method for Multielement Determination of Used and Unused Lubricating Oils and Base Oils by Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectrometry (ICP-AES) E3203 Standard Test Method for Determination of Lead in Dried Paint, Soil, and Wipe Samples by Inductively Coupled Plasma-Optical Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-OES) ISO/Other Standards ISO 11535 Iron ores — Determination of various elements — Inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometric method ISO 20258 Magnesium lithium alloys — Determination of lithium — Inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometric method EPA 200.7 Determination of Metals and Trace Elements in Water and Wastes by Inductively Coupled Plasma-Atomic Emission Spectrometry
