Matrix Effect in Determination of Trace Amounts of Boron in Iron and Steel by ICP-MS

A study on the matrix effect in the determination of trace amounts of boron in iron and steel by ICP-MS was made and reported in this paper.Significant depression of intensity of spectral line of boron by the matrix iron was observed and the rate of attenuation was effected by the amount of iron present.It was found that by applying the precise matrix matching method to the ICP-MS determination of boron in iron and steel with contents lower than (wB) 0.000 3%,satisfactory precision was attained.It was shown that the pure iron used for matrix matching in preparation of standard curve should contain no or less than (wB) 0.000 1% of boron.Hence,it is necessary to analyze the pure iron for its boron content before using for matrix matching.The proposed method was applied to the analysis of CRM′s of steels,giving values of boron contents in consistency with the certified values.