A group separation based on anion- and cation-exchange from hydrofluoric acid medium Application to multielement neutron-activation analysis of niobium

A group separation procedure for the determination of 33 elements has been developed and applied to the neutron-activation analysis of niobium. It is based on cation- and anion-exchange chromatography in HF media and separates the elements into five groups suitable for gamma spectrometry. The recoveries and their reproducibilities have been studied by the radiotracer technique. Recovery 95% (mean deviation 3%) was obtained for all the elements tested. For a 12-hr irradiation at a thermal neutron flux of 8 x 10(13) n.cm(-2).sec(-1), the limits of detection for a niobium matrix vary between 0.6 pg (for Mn) and 0.6 mug (for Fe).