Mass spectrometric studies of thermal decomposition products of reference materials for use in solid sampling atomic spectrometry

Abstract

Gaseous decomposition products released from reference materials of plant, soil, sediment and sludge origin were identified by mass spectrometry when heated up to 1500°C in a thermoanalytical furnace. Simultaneously, thermogravimetric, differential thermogravimetric and differential calorimetric measurements were also made, applying a heating rate of 20°C min −1 to sample masses of 5–10 mg. Combined thermoanalytical curves, indicating also the species evolved, are presented for ten reference samples, and cumulative mass loss data are tabulated for selected temperature limits. Utilization of the thermal data for the optimization of the solid sampling electrothermal vaporization (SS–ETV) sample introduction method is exemplified for inductively coupled plasma optical and mass spectrometry (ICP–AES/MS) of organic and inorganic samples.