Certification of Beryllium Mass Fraction in SRM 1877 Beryllium Oxide Powder Using High-Performance Inductively-Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometry with Exact Matching

Published

February 11, 2009

Author(s)

Michael R. Winchester, Gregory C. Turk, Therese A. Butler, Thomas J. Oatts, Charles Coleman, Donald Nadratowski, Ritu Sud, Mark D. Hoover, Aleksandr B. Stefaniak

Abstract

High-Performance Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometry (HP-ICP-OES) was used to certify the Be mass fraction in National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Standard Reference Material (SRM) 1877 Beryllium Oxide Powder. In order to obtain best accuracy and precision, the Be mass fractions, the internal standard element mass fractions, and the matrix compositions of the calibration solutions were carefully matched to those of the sample solutions. Long experience using HP-ICP-OES for certification of SRMs at NIST has shown that this sort of exact matching can significantly improve accuracy and precision for many analytes. Sets of solutions for HP-ICP-OES analysis were prepared by laboratories collaborating with NIST who have the experience and specialized equipment needed to work with the material safely. The collaborating laboratories were Bureau Veritas North America, Inc. (Novi, MI), the Savannah River Site (Aiken, SC), and the Y-12 National Security Complex (Oak Ridge, TN). After preparing the sets of solutions, the collaborating laboratories shipped them to NIST for HP-ICP-OES analysis. NIST provided the collaborating laboratories with solution preparation kits and spreadsheets to help establish traceability of the HP-ICP-OES results to the SI. The statistical agreement observed among the individual Be mass fraction values determined from the sets of solutions prepared by the collaborating laboratories provides a measure of confidence in the robustness of each of the digestion procedures employed, as well as in the certified Be mass fraction value.

Citation

Analytical Chemistry

Volume

81

Issue

6

Pub Type

Journals

Keywords

beryllium oxide, certification, exact matching, ICP-OES, SRM, traceability

Citation

Winchester, M. , Turk, G. , Butler, T. , Oatts, T. , Coleman, C. , Nadratowski, D. , Sud, R. , Hoover, M. and Stefaniak, A. (2009), Certification of Beryllium Mass Fraction in SRM 1877 Beryllium Oxide Powder Using High-Performance Inductively-Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometry with Exact Matching, Analytical Chemistry (Accessed September 17, 2024)