Study on ion chromatographic separation behavior of Zr and Hf on a cation exchange column

Zr and Hf based materials are important in nuclear technology. Zr is used in the manufacture of cladding materials whereas Hf is a neutron absorber. All Zr based materials used in the nuclear technology have stringent specification limit for Hf and therefore, determination of trace Hf in Zr materials is one of the essential requirements in the chemical characterization procedure. Since the two elements have similar chemical properties, the analysis of trace Hf in Zr matrix is a difficult task. XRF, the widely employed technique for the determination of trace Hf in Zr matrix, requires matrix (Zr) correction or suppression during the analysis. There is a growing interest in developing analytical methodologies for the determination of nuclear materials using liquid chromatography techniques where separation and determination of elements having similar chemical properties is possible