Dosage du quartz dans la poussiere de molasse par la technique infrarouge

Abstract

An IR technique for the determination of quartz in sandstone dusts is described. This technique is particle-size sensitive; this is well-illustrated with the analyses of dusts collected on different stages of an impactor. Pellets were prepared to obtain precise quantitative determination of quartz either by the conventional dilution method or after wet grinding with EtOH. The alcoholic treatment proved far to be superior to the dry homogenization. Finally, different ways of quantification of quartz IR spectroscopy are compared: absorbance at 798 cm^-1, integrated area measurement which includes both bands, 'QUANT' software of Perkin-Elmer. The 'QUANT' software proved to be the easier and the most reliable means of quantitation. A comparison between IR spectrometry and X-ray diffraction is equally reported. This method has been used in a survey of the quartz dust concentration to which stoneworkers are exposed; these results will be given in another publication.