Spectrographic Determination of Boron in Carbon and Alloy Steels

Abstract

A new spectrographic method for the determination of boron in carbon and alloy steels has been developed by which accurate, precise, and rapid determinations of boron in the range 5–90 ppm are obtained. In this new procedure, a condensed overdamped discharge is used to excite the spectrum, the sample's electrical polarity is negative, and the graphite counter electrode has a pointed tip with an included angle of 15°. The repeatability of the method expressed as the coefficient of variation is ±5.8%; and at a 95% confidence interval, the spectrographic results agree with chemical determinations within ±22% of the amount present in the sample.