ABSTRACT
The application of electronically modulated and unmodulated bismuth and iodine electrodeless discharge lamps as sources for the excitation of bismuth atomic fluorescence in conventional and nitrogen-separated air-acetylene flames has been investigated. Separation of the flame results in improved detection limits for bismuth even when a modulated source is employed. The effect of 500-fold weight excesses of foreign ions on the determination of bismuth at 302.46 nm with a modulated iodine source and separated flame has been studied; only calcium and zirconium are found to cause significant interference. The determination of bismuth in aluminium alloy samples is reported.
ABSTRACT
The primary and secondary combination zones of an air-acetylene flame have been separated by a stream of nitrogen flowing parallel to the flame to prevent access of atmospheric oxygen to its base. The flame is very stable over a wide range of fuel-air mixture strengths, and organic solvents may be aspirated without difficulty. The low flame background enables thermal-emission and atomic-fluorescence measurements to be made with high sensitivity. Bismuth, for example, has been determined in the range 5-200 ppm by its thermal emission at 306.8 nm, with a detection limit of 2 ppm in aqueous solution, and in the range 1-10 ppm with a detection limit of 0.3 ppm in 50% ethanolic solution. Zinc and cadmium have been determined at 213.9 nm and 228.8 nm by atomic-fluorescence spectroscopy in this flame with detection limits of 2 x 10(-4) ppm and 5 x 10(-4) ppm respectively, vapour-discharge lamps being used as sources of excitation. The results obtained represent a considerable improvement over those available by the same methods in a conventional air-acetylene flame.
