Determination of Rare-earth Oxides Using Ion Microanalyzer

An ion microanalyzer was used to determine individual rare-earths in light rareearth oxide mixtures(Y2O3, La2O3, CeO2, Pr6O11, Nd2O3and Sm2O3). Lanthanum in a sample was employed as an internal standard. The relative ion intensities(RI)of each rare-earth to lanthanum(1.0wt%as La2O3)were constant over the concentrations of percent orders as the oxides. Lanthanum in synthetic samples was determined by standard addition method. Other elements in the samples were determined from the concentration of lanthanum, the intensity ratios and RI. When lanthanum for standard addition and sample were mixed in solution state and in powder state, the analytical errors of rare-earths were of0.9to6.9%and of14.0to19.2%, respectively.