Lanthanoides in glass and glass ceramics

Many types of glass contain lanthanoides, among them special glass for optical applications is the one with the highest content of lanthanoides. The precise determination of the lanthanoides’ concentration is performed by ICP-OES. However, up to now there are no established standard processes, guaranteeing a uniform approach to the lanthanoide analysis. The knowledge of the lanthanoides’ concentrations is necessary on the microscale in some cases, especially if a suitable separation and recycling procedure is to be applied. Here, the analysis is performed by EDX or WDX in the scanning electron microscope. The new quantitative methodology of 3D multi-energy X-ray imaging enables both effective sorting as a pre-step to recycling and a quantitative 3D representation of the distribution of lanthanides in components.