Determination of Trace Niobium and Tantalum in Rock Sample by Atomic Emission Spectrometry

This paper describes the determination of trace Nb and Ta in sample using carbon powder and hafnium oxide as buffer by atomic emission spectrometry (AES). Hafnium has been selected as intecnal standard, since it has scinilar evaporation curve as those of Nb and Ta. Samples can be analyzed without chemical pretreatment. The sample was directly loaded onto the ordinary electrode. The method is simple, rapid and accurate. The range of detecmination for Nb and Ta are 0%-0.25% and 0%-0.125% respectively, and the detection limits are found to be 0.003 % and 0.001 %, respectively. Satisfactory results are obtained.