22.05.2017 | How Not to Lose Cadmium While Measuring?
Today cadmium finds a better usage than a hundred years ago. For example, metal cadmium plating is used for anticorrosion coatings that are more stable than zinc, nickel and tin-plated. Cadmium plating of steel parts gives greater resistance to corrosion, especially in sea water. About 20% of cadmium goes to the manufacture of cadmium electrodes used in batteries. Also for the manufacture of various alloys with elements such as copper, platinum, gold, lead, tin, iron, etc.
The world community is interested in preventing poisoning by cadmium compounds, therefore analytical monitoring of the presence of this element in solid, liquid and gaseous media is carried out on a regular basis. The company "Lumex Instruments" has a solution for this control, offering a Zeeman Graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometer «MGA-1000».
Cadmium is one of the readily volatile elements, therefore, it is important to observe proper measures to prevent loss of analyte at all stages from sampling to direct analysis. In particular, a sufficient temperature difference between the stages of pyrolysis and atomization should be ensured.
Devices of «MGA» series solves this problem by accurately tuning the temperature program of the graphite furnace, during which the complete analysis of the analyte is ensured at the pyrolysis stage, which in turn gives the exact mass concentration of the element.
As the temperature approaches the target temperature, the applied power is reduced, which ensures that there is no effect of temperature overshoot.
The full implementation of the so-called Stabilized Temperature Platform Furnace (STPF) concept facilitates of straightforward quantitation using aqueous standards to make external calibration curves, in most cases, minimizing the matrix interference effects and reducing the need for using the method of additions.
On our website you can find application notes for measuring the weight content of cadmium in soil, ground, and bottom sediment samples, natural and waste waters, and food products.