The use of plasma atomic spectrometric methods for the analysis of ceramic powders

The use of plasma atomic spectrometric methods for the analysis of high-purity refractory powders of Al2O3, SiC and ZrO2 used in the production of advanced ceramics is discussed. Special reference is given to the use of combined procedures including sample decomposition and in the case of ZrO2 to matrix removal as well as to the slurry technique as a direct method in atomic spectrometry with inductively coupled plasmas (ICP). Both the possibilities, limitations and analytical use of the slurry technique are discussed and shown to be related to the particle size of the powder; this should be below the 5–10 μm level. The use of a Simplex method for the optimization of the slurry technique towards obtaining both the highest power of detection and calibration using solutions will be treated for the case of SiC. A critical evaluation of the use of ICP atomic emission and of ICP mass spectrometry is presented.