DETERMINATION OF SILICON IN BORON-NITRIDE BY SLURRY SAMPLING ELECTROTHERMAL ATOMIC-ABSORPTION SPECTROMETRY

A method for the determination of silicon in boron nitride by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry using the slurry sampling technique has been developed. The procedure was optimized with respect to chemical modification, temperature programme and slurry concentration applicable. For the reduction of otherwise strong matrix interference, magnesium nitrate proved to be the best suited chemical modifier. Calibration was performed by both the standard addition method and the calibration curve using aqueous standards. The limit of detection of the optimized procedure is 3 mug g-1. In the determination of silicon contents of 20 mug g-1, standard deviations of 8.3 and 10.5% were obtained using the standard addition and the calibration curve method, respectively.