Determination of trace impurities in iron and nickel-base alloys by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry

Five approaches to the determination of trace amounts of lead, bismuth, thallium, selenium, tellurium, and silver in iron and nickel-based alloys were investigated. While all procedures produced satisfactory results, direct techniques yielded a significant times advantage over separation schemes. Matrix effects made calibration curves an impractical approach. A spiking technique was used to generate data on a wide range of standard alloy samples.