Abstract: Element zirconium reacted with polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) dispersed in isopropanol-water mixture to form volatile fluoride when heated in an electrothermal graphite furnace, and the fluorides formed subsequently were vaporized into ICP for atomization and excitation.The technique provides a picogram detectkm limit and adequate precision of 4% relative standard deviation.Linear dynamic range covers over three orders of magnitude.The process of sample preparation it very convenient.It is expected that the method proposed is suitable for determination of other refractory elements.

Key words: Inductively coupled plasma, Electrothermal vaporization, Sample introduction, Fluorinating