Rapid determination of antimony in steel by flameless atomic-absorption

A method for the determination of 1-30 ppm or more of Sb in steel by using flameless atomic absorption has been developed. The sample was dissolved in aqua regia and 10 mul were pipetted into the Massmann-type furnace. It was shown that interferences from HCl, HNO(3), Ni and Fe could be eliminated if oxygen was excluded and the heating rate was sufficiently high. Chromium was added to the samples and standards to compensate for its influence. Cu, Co, Mn, Ti and Sn did not interfere. An intercomparison with other laboratories showed that this method gives the same result as extraction with TOPO in MIBK. The time for a complete analysis including dissolution was 15 min.