Abstract

A simple flow injection with flame photometric detection has been developed for determination of sodium, potassium, and total alkalies in portland cement, fly ash, admixtures, and water of concrete. A liquid sample or a digest of solid sample was injected into a water carrier stream which flowed to a flame photometer. A change in emission intensity at a selected wavelength was recorded as a peak. An amplifier circuit was fabricated, which helped improve sensitivity of the flame photometer. Calibration graphs in the range of 0.05–1.0 mg L^-1 and 1.0–20.0 mg L^-1 were obtained with a detection limit of 0.02 mg L^-1, for both potassium and sodium determination. Relative standard deviations for 11 replicates of injecting of 10 mg L^-1 potassium and sodium solutions were 1.69 and 1.79%, respectively. Sample throughput of 120 h^-1 was achieved. The proposed method was successfully applied to portland cement, fly ash, admixtures, and water samples validated by the ASTM standard method and certified reference materials of portland cement.

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Reference

J. Junsomboon and J. Jakmunee . “Determination of Potassium, Sodium, and Total Alkalies in Portland Cement, Fly Ash, Admixtures, and Water of Concrete by a Simple Flow Injection Flame Photometric System” Journal of Automated Methods and Management  in Chemistry , Volume 2011 (2011), Article ID  742656, 9 pages