Determination of total silicon content in steel and iron by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry

This paper introduced the determination of total Si in steel and iron with inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry(ICP-AES).After the sample was dissolved with HCl and HNO3,the undissolved substance was fused with sodium carbonate and boric acid at 950 ℃after treatment of filtration,drying,incineration and ignition.The fused blocks were dissolved in the filtrate.The content of total silicon was then determined with ICP-AES under the optimal working conditions.A large amount of Fe,Na and B would generate interference,but the interference was removed by standard addition method.The proposed method has been applied to the determination of certified reference material containing different amount of silicon.The found values are consistent with the certified values.The method was also employed to determine total silicon in steel samples,and the results agreed with the reduced molybdosilicate spectrophotometry(National Standards).