Atomic Absorption

[cody84]

Does anyone know if it's normal to go through 1 tank of Argon per week???? Have a Varian AA, using graphite furnace mostly and almost every day. Seems way off....

Just tired of switching the cylinders all the time hahaha

[Don_Hilton]

While I can not comment on the usage rate of argon by AA, I can suggest you consider using a cylinder of liquid argon and putting a regulator on the gas outlet. I do this with a liquid nitrogen cylinder for high volume, clean nitrogen gas.

[Bruce Hamilton]

It's a long time since I used a Varian Graphite Furnace, but that usage sounds very high, esepacilly if it's only used intermittently, rather than 24/7.

I recall changing cylinders every month, but we only ran for few hours each day. From memory, the manual listed typical gas consumption flow rates.