44 Part I: Fundamentals and Instrumen tation 7 Anciltary Equipment 7.1 STANDARDS This Section contains four tabulations of suppliers of standard materials in everyday use by analytical atomic spectroscopists. None of these lists can be claimed t o be fully comprehensive but they should be helpful t o the analyst who experiences difficulty in obtaining any of these items. The accumulation of an adequate range of standards for calibration of a direct-reading emission spectrometer can be a lengthy and costly process, particularly if a wide range of materials is t o be analysed. Instrument manufacturers should perhaps be encouraged t o provide libraries of standards for loan, hire or sale t o new workers in the field. To help t o alleviate the preseiit situation in which it is necessary either to prepare standards oneself - no mean task for metal alloys-or to beg, borrow or steal from friends who have collections, Table C contains all suppliers of metal and alloy standards known to the compilers of this volume.Unfortunately we cannot comment from personal experience on the quality, e.g., homogeneity, of material from all of these suppliers. Gegus (220) has tested the micro-homogeneity of pig-iron samples. Tables have also been provided (405) of recommended or proposed values for maior, minor and trace elements of ten French geochemical standards. Difficulties arise a t times with supplies of graphite electrodes needed for emission spectrographic analysis. Table D lists suppliers of these. (Many types) (Cu-base) TABLE C - SPECTROGRAPHIC STANDARDS 2 3 1.BNFMRA,Euston Street, London N.W. 1 , U.K. (Cu-base) BCIRA, Bordesley Hall, Alvechurch, Birmingham, U.K. ( C as t I r o ns) Bureau of Analysed Samples Ltd., Ncwham Hall, Newby, Middlesbrough, Teeside, U.K. 4 G. I. Willan Ltd., Sheffield Works, Catcliffe, Rotherham, Yorks., U.K. (Fe-base) 5 Henry Wiggin & Co. Ltd., Holmer Road, Hereford, Herefordshire, U.K. (Ni-base) Tyseley Metals Ltd., Kings Road, Birmingham 1 1, U.K. 6 7 (‘Specpure’ metals) 8 International Alloys Ltd., Bicester Road, Aylesbury, Bucks., U.K. (A I-base) 9 Morris P, Kirk & Son Inc., 2700 South Indiana Street, Los Angelcs, Calif. 90023, (Al-, Sn-, Pb-, Zn-base) 10 Apex Smelting Co., 6700 Grant Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio 44 105, U.S.A.Johnson-Matthey Chemicals Ltd., 74 Hatton Garden, London EC 1P 1 AE. U.S.A. Red House, 37 The Broadway, Stanmore, Middlesex, U.K.) (Al-, Zn-, Mg-base) 11 Spex Industries Inc., Box 798, Metuchen, N.J. 08840, U.S.A. (Glen Creston, The (Many types) 12 Alcoa Research Labs., New Kensington, Pa., U.S.A. (Imperial Aluminium Co. Ltd., Impalco House, P.O. Box 15, Droitwich, Worcs., U.K.), (Al-base) 13 Office of Standard Reference Materials, NBS, Washington, D.C., 20234, U.S.A. (Many types) 14 Zinc et Allioges, 34 Rue Collange, 92-Dervallois-Perret, Boite Postale N o 182, (Z n-base) France. Pechiney, 23 Rue Balzac, Paris 8e, France. 1.5 (Al-base) 45 (Fe-,Al-base) Part I: Fundamentals and Instrumentatior? 16 Bundesanstalt ftir Materialpriifung (BAM), 1 Berlin 45, Unter den Eichen 87, Germany.17 CKD Praha, Na Harfe 7, Praha 9, Vysocany, Czechoslovakia. TABLE D - SPECTROGRAPHIC GRAPHITE ELECTRODES 1 Johnson Matthey Chemicals Ltd., 74 Hatton Garden, London EC 1P 1 AE, 1J.K. 2 La Carbone (GB) Ltd., Portslade, Sussex, U.K. 3 Ultra Carbon Corp., P.O. Box 747, Bay City, Mich. 48706, U.S.A. (Heydon & Son Ltd., Spectrum House, Alderton Crescent, London N.W.4, U.K.) 4 Spex Industries Inc., 3880 Park Avenue, Metuchen, N.J. 08841, U.S.A. (Glen Creston, The Red House, 37 The Broadway, Stanmore, Middlesex, U.K.) 5 National Carbon Co., Union Carbide Corp., 270 Park Avenue, New York 17, N.Y., U.S.A. (ARL Ltd., Wingate Road, Luton, Beds., U.K.) 6 Poco Graphite Inc., P.O.Box 1524, Garland, Texas 75040, U.S.A. 7 Baird-Atomic Inc., 33 University Road, Cambridge, Mass. 021 38, U.S.A. (Baird-Atomic Ltd., 42 Station Lane, Hornchurch, Essex, U.K.) 8 Met Bay Inc., P.O. Box 610, Bay City, Mich. 48706, U.S.A. 9 General Graphites Inc., First & Monroe Street, Bay City, Mich. 48706, U.S.A. 10 Ringsdorff-Werke GMBH, Bonn, Bad Godesberg, West Germany (Mining & Chemical Products Ltd., 70/76 Alcester Road South, Birmingham 14, U.K.) TABLE E - STANDARD METAL SOLUTIONS (MS) & 'REAGENTS FOR AAS' (R) 1 Johnson Matthey Chemicals Ltd., 74 Hatton Garden, London FC'lP IAE, U.K. 8 6 7 5 Koch-Light Laboratories Ltd., Colnbrook, Bucks., U . K . May & Baker Ltd., Dagenham, Essex, RMlO 7XS, U.K. V.A.Howe & Co. Ltd., 88 Peterborough Road, London S.W.6, U.K. Hartman-Leddon c'o. Inc., 60th & Woodland Avenue, Philadelphia, Pa. 19 143, U.S.A. M S J . T. Baker Chemical Co., Phillipsburg, N.J. 08865, U.S.A. 4 3 K 2 BDH Chemicals Ltd., Poole, Dorset, BH 12 4NN, U.K. M S , R Hopkin & Williams Ltd., P.O. Box 1, Romford, Essex, RM 1 LHA, U.K. MS, R Fisons Scientific Apparatus Ltd., Bishop Meadow Road, Loughborough, Leks., LE11 ORG, U.K. ills, R R R MS MS, R 10 Bio-Kad Laboratories, 32nd & Griffin Avenue, Richmond, Calif. 94804, U.S.A. M S nzs IJ3.A. 9 1 1 Barnes Engineering, 30 Commerce Road, Stamford, Conn. 06902, U.S.A. 12 Aldrich Chemical Co., 940 West Street, Paul Avenue, Milwaukee, WK 53233, R 13 Fastman Organic Chemicals, bastman Kodak Co., Rochester, N.Y.14650, U.S.A. R R R 14 K & K Laboratories, 121 Express Street, Plainview, N.Y. 11803, U.S.A. Alfa Inorganics, 8 Congress Street, Beverly, Mass. 01915, 1J.S.A. 16 Instrumentation Laboratory Inc., 1 13 Harwell Avenue, Lexington, Mash. U.S.A. 15 46 Part I: Fundamentals and Instrumentation M S 17 Spex Industries Inc., Box 798, Metuchen, N.J. 08840, U.S.A. MS 18 Nitine h e . , 45 S Jefferson Road, Wippary, N.J. 07981, U.S.A. (and of Shannon, Ireland) MS 19 E. Merck AG, 61 Darmstadt, West Germany. R 20 Carlo Erba, Divisione Chimica Industriale, Via C Imbonati 24, 20 159 Milano, Italy MS TABLE F - ORGANOMETALLICS 1 Messrs. Burt & Harvey Ltd., Brettenham House, Lancaster Place, Strand, London W.C.2, U.K.2 Durham Raw Materials Ltd., 1-4 Great Tower Street, London EC3R 5AB, [J.K. (Nuodex Ltd., Birtley, Co. Durham, U.K.) 3 BDH Chemicals Ltd., Poole, Dorset, BH12 4NN, U.K. 4 Hopkin & Williams Ltd., P.O. Box 1, Romford, Essex, RM 1 IHA, U.K. 5 Office of Standard Reference Materials, NBS, Washington, D.C. 20234, U.S.A. 6 AIfa Inorganics, 8 Congress Street, Beverly, Mass., 01915, U.S.A. 7 Eastman Organic Chemicals, Eastman Kodak Co.,. Rochester, N.Y. 14569, U.S.A. 8 Angstrom Inc., 2454 West 38th Street, Chicago, Ill. 60632, U.S.A. 9 J. T. Baker Chemical Co., Phillipsburg, N.J., U.S.A. 10 ContinentalOilCo.,P.O. Box 1267, Ponca City, Okla. 74601, U.S.A. (“Conostan” series) 11 ROC/RIC, 11686 Sheldon Street, Sun Valley, Calif.91352, 1J.S.A. (Kodak Ltd., Kirkby, Liverpool, U.K.) 12 National Spectrographic Labs. Inc., 19500 South Miles Road, Cleveland, Ohio 44128, U.S.A. 13 Baird-Atomic Inc., 33 University Road, Cambridge, Mass. 02138, U.S.A. 14 E. Merck AG, 61 Darmstadt, Germany. (Anderman & Co. Ltd., Central Avenue, East Molesey, Surrey KY 8 OQZ, U.K.) 15 Carlo Erba, Divisione Chimica Industriale, Via C Imbonati 24, 20159 Milano, Italy. In these cost-conscious days, analysts may prefer to purchase ready-made standard solutions rather than t o use valuable time in preparing their own standards. There are many suppliers of such soh tions and of reagents, e.g. spectroscopic buffers, complexing agents and organic solvents, specifically intended for use in flamc spectroscopy and characterised by the low levels of potentially important contaminants.These are listed in Table E. There is little doubt that when trace amounts of elements are t o be determined it is false economy to purchase other than the highest available purity of all the necessary reagents. Methods of analysis of such materials have been described by Johnson and Watson (390). Table F lists commercially available standards of organo-me tallic materials for which there is an increasing need in both emission and absorption spectroscopy. 7.2 DOCUMENTATION A film (458) describing the historical evolution of AAS from 1953 to 1970 is now Part I: Fundamentals and Instrumentation 47 being shown at symposia and can be recommended for the balanced view it gives of the subject.The AAS bibliography produced regularly by Slavin has been up-dated (355, 377) and the ASTM proposed recommended practices for AAS have been summarised (304). A Perkin-Elmer group (357) has described the direct measurement of limits of detection for a comprehensive list of elements using both flame and graphite furnace sampling. Results were tabulated. A tabulation of 2513 atomic emission lines by element and by wavelength for elements from Li t o Co in the wavelength range below 200 nm has been compiled by Williams (274). 7.3 MISCELLANEOUS Potential sources of contamination in trace analysis have been critically examined by Scott and Ure (464, 1096). Common laboratory materials, viz., glass, rubber, polythene, etc., can cause problems, and it is frequently desirable to take precautions to minimise laboratory dust. Duff (933) and Slickers (957) have reported on the benefits of inserting a rare-gas purifier into the argon supply line to a direct-reading emission spectrometer. The former used a conventional gas chromatographic system while the latter employed active Cu and a molecular filter which reduced the oxygen and water concentrations t o <lpg/g. Rutgers (147) has provided data on the temperature and spectral radiance of standard light sources, viz., tungsten strip lamp, anode of a carbon arc, high pressure xenon arc, which should be valuable when inter-laboratory comparisons of absolute emission sensitivities are attempted. Finally, the sampler described earlier by Raiteri (See ARAAS, 197 1, I , p. 43, ref. 178) has been reported in a more accessible journal (832). This device permits transfer of “IOpg of a large metallurgical product into the electrodes for spectrographic analysis, thereby avoiding the need to transport heavy components.