Determination of copper, manganese and molybdenum in the alloy steels by microwave digestion-microwave plasma torch atomic emission spectrometry

The determination of copper, manganese and molybdenum in the alloy steel samples by microwave plasma torch atomic emission spectrometry (MPT-AES) was studied. The experimental conditions including microwave power, carrier gas flow rate, support gas flow rate, oxygen shield gas flow rate were optimized. The detection limits for copper, manganese and molybdenum were 3.3, 3.7 and 42 ng/mL, respectively. The relative standard deviations (n=6) were less than 1.7%, 2.4%, 3.8%, respectively. The linear ranges were 0.02～50, 0.04～50 and 0.20～50 μg/mL for Cu, Mn, and Mo, respectively.