Determination of B, Si, P and S in steels by inductively coupled plasma quadrupole mass spectrometry with dynamic reaction cell

An inductively coupled plasma quadrupole mass spectrometer equipped with a dynamic reaction cell(TM) (DRC) was successfully used for the accurate determination of B, Si, P and S in steel samples, using the reaction of Si+, P+ and S' ions with 02 in the cell. The method obviated the effect of polyatomic isobaric interferences at m/z 28, 31 and 32 by detecting Si-28(+), (31)p(+) and S-32(+) as the oxide ion (SiOH)-Si-28-O-16, (PO)-P-31-O-16 and (SO)-S-32-O-16 at m/z 45, 47 and 48, respectively, which is less interfered. The effects of the operating conditions of DRC system were optimized to get the best signal to noise ratio for (SiOH)-Si-28-O-16, (31)p(16)O and (SO)-S-32-O-16. As there is no spectroscopic interference, boron was determined under the standard mode. Validation of the method was carried out by the determination of B, Si, P and S in steel standard reference materials (NIST SRM 361, 362 and 364). Since the sensitivities of Si, P and S in digested sample solutions and standard solutions were found to be quite different, standard addition method was used for the determination of 13, Si, P and S in this study. Good agreement was obtained between the certified values and the experimental results. The precision between sample replicates was better than 6.3% for all the determinations. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.