Quantitative laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy of standard reference materials of various categories

The quantitative laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy analysis was carried out with standard reference materials (SRM). In order to minimize errors due to the matrix effect, we used 21 SRM samples that belong to different categories of food, clay, sludge, steelmaking alloy, and geochemical and agricultural materials. The principal component analysis was used for rapid identification and discrimination of the samples. Nine elements (Al, Ca, Mg, Ti, Si, Fe, K, Na, and Mn) in each sample were analyzed. While each category of samples shows a specific tendency in the calibration curves of Na, Ti, Si, Al, Fe, and Mn, other elements (K, Ca, and Mg) do not pose any noticeable similarity. The present results establish benchmark calibration curves for characterizing various SRMs.