[en] Three different inductively coupled plasma--optical emission spectrometry (ICP--OES) systems have been used for the determination of residual impurities and alloying constituents in solutions of high and low alloy steels of widely varying composition. The results of these studies show that the presence of an iron matrix does not influence the detection limits for the 12 elements studied and that these elements can be determined at fractional ppm levels without prior chemical concentration. The analytical calibrations were established with synthetic reference solutions and the resulting analytical curves exhibited linearity over three to four orders of magnitude. The relative standard deviations determined over an extended period of time ranged from approximately 0.01 to approximately 0.07. (U.S.)

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