Chlorine-free Microwave Digestion of Stainless Steel for Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometric Analysis

Abstract

This paper reports an improved method for sample preparation of a stainless steel sample for inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Conventional digestion methods using a digestion agent containing hydrochloric acid affect chlorine spectral interference such as that by ³⁵Cl¹⁶O⁺ or ⁴⁰Ar³⁵Cl⁺. Alternatively, a microwave digestion method using an acid mixture of nitric acid and hydrofluoric acid can fully eliminate these interferences. The suggested procedure can contribute to more reliable quantification of titanium, vanadium, arsenic, niobium, tin, and antimony in stainless steel samples using a low-resolution quadrupole mass spectrometer.