RESUMO
A direct procedure has been developed for the flame atomic determination of potassium and magnesium in cement samples. A 50-mg sample is dispersed in 25 ml of 0.13M nitric acid; 100 mul of this slurry is injected in a double channel FIA manifold simultaneously with 100 mul of a 10% (w/v) lanthanum solution. This procedure allows the rapid extraction of potassium and magnesium by leaching of the sample; nitric acid is not necessary if only potassium must be determined and the sample can be diluted with only distilled water. Aqueous standards are used. The manifold employed includes a well-stirred mixing chamber, which provides an adequate on-line dilution of the sample, in order to obtain emission or absorbance measurements in the dynamic range of the elements to be determined. The results obtained in the analysis of real samples agree with those found by flame atomic spectrometry after a previous alkaline fusion with lithium carbonate, and exhibit better precision. The limit of detection of the procedure is 0.007% for K(2)O and 0.01% for MgO and the precision of the entire procedure corresponds to a relative standard deviation of 1%.