Determination of lanthanum and cerium in magnesium alloys by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry

A method for direct determination of lanthanum and cerium content in magnesium alloys by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry(ICP-AES)was studied.The optimal working parameters and analytical lines were determined.The matrix effects,interference of coexisting element and the interference correction methods were studied.The results showed that two spectral lines 333.749{082}nm and 418.660{080}nm can be selected as analytical spectral lines.The interference of matrix and coexisting elements could be eliminated by matrix-matching and by deducting single background.The linear range of La and Ce was in 0.005%-1.0%,correlation coefficient was larger than 0.999 0 and the detection limit was 0.004 μg/mL(La) and 0.006 μg/mL(Ce).The precision experiment indicated that relative standard deviation of these two elements was smaller than 10%.The method has been applied to the determination of La and Ce in magnesium alloys,and the results were consistent with photometric determination.