Comparative performance of semi-absolute k0-instrumental neutron activation analysis and Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES) for compositional decoding of aluminum base alloys

Samples of certified aluminum base alloys were analyzed by semi-absolute, standardless k0-instrumental neutron activation analysis (k0-INAA) for compositional decoding. Irradiations were performed at two research reactors located at Pakistan Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology having nominal thermal neutron fluxes of 1013 and 1012 cm-2s-1. The experimentally optimized parameters for NAA suggest a maximum of three sets of irradiations for the quantification of 8 major and minor elements. Moreover, the same conditions provided quantitative results for 10 other elements as impurities, which were not reported by the supplier of the reference material. The same alloys were analyzed by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) where all impurity elements, quantified by k0-INAA, were below the detection limits. A comparison of % relative deviation of the results obtained by k0-INAA and ICP-OES revealed that the former has better accuracy than ICP-OES, but k0-INAA has poor limits of detection for Mg, Si and Ti in aluminum base alloy. (orig.)