Neutron activation and substoichiometric determination of traces of palladium in a mixture of noble metals

A rapid method has been developed for the determination of traces of palladium in a mixture of noble metals by neutron activation and substoichiometric extraction with HEINA. 1 μg of Pd can be determined with an accuracy of 6% and a precision of 3.1%. Synthetic mixtures containing 100 μg of each of Pt, Au, Os, Rh, Ir and Ru and 0.1, 1, 2 and 4 μg of Pd were prepared. The samples and standard comparators were irradiated by a thermal neutron flux of 1x1013nxcm-2xs-1 for 1-2 days. Results of decontamination studies are tabulated. (T.I.)