The Spectrochemical Analysis of Magnesium and its Alloys for Beryllium, Lead, and other Trace Elements by Solution and Salt-Cap Techniques

Abstract

Spectrographic solution and salt-cap techniques are described for the determination of beryllium, lead, and other trace elements in magnesium alloys in the range 0.0001–0 3%. Beryllium is determined with a precision within ±4% between 0 0001 and 0 01% with a high voltage spark source and a rotating disk electrode method. Comparative sensitivity and precision results are given for Al, Ca, Cu, Fe, Mn, Pb, Ni, Sn, and Zn with a high voltage spark condition using the rotating disk electrode and an ac arc salt-cap technique. Considerable improvement in sensitivity for Al, Ca, and Pb is demonstrated with use of an argon atmosphere in the ac arc work.