Significance and Use

The metallurgical properties of aluminum and its alloys are highly dependent on chemical composition. Precise and accurate analyses are essential to obtaining desired properties, meeting customer specifications and helping to reduce scrap due to off-grade material.

This test method is applicable to chill cast specimens as defined in Practice E716 and can also be applied to other types of samples provided that suitable reference materials are available. Also, other sample forms can be melted-down and cast into a disk, using an appropriate mold, as described in Practice E716 . However, it should be noted that some elements (for example, magnesium) readily form oxides, while some others (for example, sodium, lithium, calcium, and strontium) are volatile, and may be lost to varying degrees during the melting process.

1. Scope

1.1 This test method describes the analysis of aluminum and its alloys by atomic emission spectrometry. The aluminum specimen to be analyzed may be in the form of a chill cast disk, casting, foil, sheet, plate, extrusion or some other wrought form or shape. The elements covered in the scope of this method are listed in the table below.

2. Referenced Documents (purchase separately) The documents listed below are referenced within the subject standard but are not provided as part of the standard.

ASTM Standards

E135 Terminology Relating to Analytical Chemistry for Metals, Ores, and Related Materials

E158 Practice for Fundamental Calculations to Convert Intensities into Concentrations in Optical Emission Spectrochemical Analysis

E172 Practice for Describing and Specifying the Excitation Source in Emission Spectrochemical Analysis

E305 Practice for Establishing and Controlling Atomic Emission Spectrochemical Analytical Curves

E406 Practice for Using Controlled Atmospheres in Spectrochemical Analysis

E691 Practice for Conducting an Interlaboratory Study to Determine the Precision of a Test Method

E716 Practices for Sampling and Sample Preparation of Aluminum and Aluminum Alloys for Determination of Chemical Composition by Spectrochemical Analysis

E826 Practice for Testing Homogeneity of a Metal Lot or Batch in Solid Form by Spark Atomic Emission Spectrometry

E876 Practice for Use of Statistics in the Evaluation of Spectrometric Data

E1329 Practice for Verification and Use of Control Charts in Spectrochemical Analysis

E1507 Guide for Describing and Specifying the Spectrometer of an Optical Emission Direct-Reading Instrument

Keywords

aluminum; aluminum alloys; Spark Atomic Emission Spectrometry (Spark-AES); Aluminum alloys--spectrochemical analysis; Aluminum (spectrochemical analysis); Argon atmospheres; Calibration--spectrochemical analysis instrumentation; Capacitor discharge; Excitation; Gas flow; Optical emission spectrometry (OES); Point-to-point technique; Unipolar self-initiating capacitor discharge;

ICS Code

ICS Number Code 77.120.10 (Aluminium and aluminium alloys)

DOI: 10.1520/E1251-11

ASTM International is a member of CrossRef.

ASTM E1251