Ž . Spectrochimica Acta Part B 55 2000 575586 Analysis of tungsten carbide coatings by UV laser ablation inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry V. Kanicky a,  , V. Otruba a , J.-M. Mermet b a Laboratory of Plasma Sources for Chemical Analysis, Faculty of Sciences, Masaryk Uni  ersity Brno, Kotlarska 2, CZ 61137 Brno, Czech Republic b ( ) Laboratoire des Sciences Analytiques CNRS UMR 5619 , Uni  ersite Claude Bernard-Lyon I, Batiment 308, ´ F 69622 Villeurbanne, France Received 3 December 1999; accepted 15 February 2000 Abstract Ž . Tungsten carbide coatings thickness 0.1 0.2 mm containing 8.0, 12.2, 17.2 and 22.9% Co were studied with laser Ž . ablation inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry LA-ICP-AES . Composition of these plasma sprayed deposits on steel disks was determined using X-ray fluorescence spectrometry and electron microprobe energywavelength dispersive X-ray spectrometry. The coatings were ablated by means of a Q-switched Nd:YAG Ž . laser at 266 nm 10 Hz, 10 mJ per shot coupled to an ICP echelle-based spectrometer equipped with a segmented charge-coupled device detector. Non-linear dependences of cobalt lines intensities on the Co percentage were observed both at a single spot ablation and at a sample translation. This behaviour could be attributed to a complex phase composition of the system W C Co. However, employing tungsten as internal standard the linear calibration was obtained for studied analytical lines Co II 228.616 nm, Co II 230.786 nm, Co II 236.379 nm and Co II 238.892 nm.  2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: UV laser ablation; Tungsten carbide coatings; Inductively coupled plasma; Atomic emission spectrometry  Corresponding author. Tel.: 42-5-41129283; fax: 42-5-41211214. Ž . E-mail address: viktork@chemi.muni.cz V. Kanicky . 0584-854700$ - see front matter  2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. Ž . PII: S 0 5 8 4 - 8 5 4 7 00 00167-1