Thermal ionization filament, calcium

Thermal-ionization mass spectrometers use a hot filament to ionize the sample. The element of interest is first purified using wet chemistry and then is loaded onto a source filament, often along with another substance that makes ionization easier and a more stable function of temperature. The filament is heated and as the sample evaporates, it is ionized. Both positive and negative ions can be created by thermal ionization, depending on the electronegativity of the element to be measured. Thermal-ionization mass spectrometers are used to measure a wide variety of elements, including magnesium, calcium, titanium, iron, nickel, rubidium, strontium, neodymium, samarium, rhenium, osmium, uranium, lead, and many others. 

The calcium isotope ratio data of Table IIA were obtained using a triple filament thermal ionization procedure ( ) that was modified to permit operation of the ionizing filament at a higher temperature... 

We have developed a thermal ionization method for use in a standard quadrupole mass spectrometer (1) The method uses a modified solids inlet probe Figure in conjunction with replacable filament assemblies The rhenium filaments are coated with calcium salts precipitated from biological materials in a basic ammonium oxalate solution Calcium is precipitated directly from urine and serum first made basic with ammonium hydroxide fecal samples and aliquots of diet are homogenized with a 9 1 water/nitric acid mixture, centrifuged, made basic and... 

Thermal ionization has been used to determine isotopic abundance of virtually all the elements We have recently extnded our own capability in this direction by adapting the silica gel/phosphoric acid filament coating technique (5) to our system Five 1 of a fine silica gel suspension is placed on a filament Five l of the analyte ion solution is coated, dried then coated with 2 pi of a 0 7N phosphoric acid solution and heated until dry again The analysis is performed in a similar manner as before, except that the signal is more transient and somewhat less intense than the calcium analysis With this approach, however, we have made natural abundance isotope ratio measurements on zinc, copper, and magnesium Table II shows our measurements compared to the accepted values, shown in parenthesis, for these elements The isotope used as reference... 

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