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Cobalt & nickel analysis -- A.A., ICAP/MS, or colorimetric

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Q. We have a small plating shop having anodizing as one of the processes. We are doing black electrolytic coloring using cobalt acetate, nickel sulphate, boric acid and 5 sulpho salicylic acid.

We are not able to analyze cobalt and nickel metal content separately in solution for replenishment purpose. Please suggest suitable analytical method.

Closely related historical posts, oldest first ...

Q. Hey Everybody,

Wendt Dunnington makes Diamond and CBN tooling and we electroplate nickel (from Watts and Sulfamate baths) to hold the super abrasives in place. In a R&D mode we are adding Cobalt (1000 to 3000 ppm range)to the nickel chemistry. A low cost analysis for Cobalt in the presence of Nickel would be very helpful. Any ideas?

Thanks,

Q. I am working on a method to Analyze Cobalt in a nickel sulfamate bath I have tried linear, nonlinear, and matrix addition calibrations. I have also try matrix matching I have gotten good result however I am getting about 200 to 300 ppm less than the outside lab analysis. Can I get any suggestion on what to try next.

"Atomic-Absorption Spectrophotometry" by Elwell & Gidley from Abe Books or Affiliate Link (your purchases make finishing.com possible) 2004 A. Are you using the same type of AA? Flame, Graphite Furnace or ICP-MS? It will make a difference. You might try using a standard from the same lot number as your outside contract lab does. All certified standards are not equal, despite certification. James Watts - Navarre, Florida 2004 A. David, You may have to face the possibility that you're right! One error would be not diluting the sample & standard to the linear range for Cobalt, in which case any readings below the concentration of the standard (SOP) would read too high. Another error would be to choose a frequency for Cobalt measurement at which Nickel also has minor absorbance, again resulting in a high reading. Create a test sample of Nickel Sulfamate bath with a known measured quantity of Cobalt, have both machines test it. Craig Haseltine C&L Equipment Inc - St Charles, Illinois, USA

Q. I am using nonlinear Direct addition on an AAnalist 200 with a wavelength of 240.73 nm I use a diluted Standard Nickel Sulfamate solution for the Blank and standards trying hard to eliminate any matrix effect. A have done a solution multiple times and had close numbers. I have even changed my dilutions and still came up pretty good. The only thing that I noticed is the higher the cobalt level the closer I get to them. I use a 1 ppm, 2.5 ppm, 5 ppm, and a 10 ppm. standards the Absorption of the 10 ppm is about .35 and 1 ppm is about .049 ppm I try to keep the sample as close to 5 ppm as possible. I guess I will track my number versus theirs and see what changes.

adv.