Final Analysis: The Role of Inductively Coupled Plasma-Optical Emission Spectrometry in Determining the Fineness of Precious Metals

摘要

Accurate precious metal analysis is routinely carried out to determine the precious metal content in a wide variety of different materials. This is particularly important for fineness determination for the hallmarking of precious metals for jewellery use (see?Figure 1). The precious metal concentration in different materials can vary from parts per million (ppm) or lower in car catalyst or powdered ore samples, to virtually 100% in jewellery alloys or bullion bars. This article considers the benefits of analysis by inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES).