A Compilation of New and Published Major and Trace Element Data for NIST SRM 610 and NIST SRM 612 Glass Reference Materials

TLDR

Microanalytical trace‑element techniques are limited by a shortage of well‑characterized standards, yet NIST SRM 610 and SRM 612 are homogeneous, spiked glasses widely used as reference materials, though only eight elements are officially certified. The study compiles new and published concentration data to provide updated working values for these reference materials. The authors assembled data from about sixty publications and their own analyses, presenting matrix compositions and 58 trace elements with averages, standard deviations, ranges, medians, geometric means, and preferred averages excluding outliers. For the certified elements, the compiled averages closely match the NIST values.

Abstract

Microanalytical trace element techniques (such as ion probe or laser ablation ICP‐MS) are hampered by a lack of well characterized, homogeneous standards. Two silicate glass reference materials produced by National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), NIST SRM 610 and NIST SRM 612, have been shown to be homogeneous and are spiked with up to sixty one trace elements at nominal concentrations of 500 μg g‐1 and 50 μg g‐1 respectively. These samples (supplied as 3 mm wafers) are equivalent to NIST SRM 611 and NIST SRM 613 respectively (which are supplied as 1 mm wafers) and are becoming more widely used as potential microanalytical reference materials. NIST however, only certifies up to eight elements in these glasses. Here we have compiled concentration data from approximately sixty published works for both glasses, and have produced new analyses from our laboratories. Compilations are presented for the matrix composition of these glasses and for fifty eight trace elements. The trace element data includes all available new and published data, and summaries present the overall average and standard deviation, the range, median, geometric mean and a preferred average (which excludes all data outside ± one standard deviation of the overall average). For the elements which have been certified, there is a good agreement between the compiled averages and the NIST data. This compilation is designed to provide useful new working values for these reference materials.