ICP-AES and D.C.arc-AES determination of Sc, Y and lanthanides in nuclear grade graphite

Summary Inductively Coupled Plasma-Atomic Emission Spectrometric and Direct Current Arc-Emission Spectrometric methods have been developed for the determination of rare earths in nuclear grade graphite. The graphite matrix was selectively removed from the analytes by controlled heating in air at 900°C in a muffle furnace. The residual ash containing analytes was dissolved and analysed by ICP-AES for rare earths specially required for assessing the nuclear purity, viz. Dy, Eu, Gd and Sm and for all rare earths, Sc and Y by D.C.arc-AES by photographing their spectra in III order on an 3.4 M Ebert Spectrograph. The recovery of rare earths after ashing was confirmed using -activities of¹⁴¹Ce,^152–154Eu,¹⁵³Gd,¹⁷⁰Tm and¹⁶⁹Yb which was found to be quantitative within experimental error.

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Bestimmung von Sc, Y und Lanthaniden in nuklear-reinem Graphit mit Hilfe der ICP-AES und der Gleichstrombogen-Spektrometrie