A particle‐induced X‐ray emission (PIXE) technique has been used in the determination of the principal components Pb, Zr and Ti and the substituting elements Sr, Cr, Nb and La in lead zirconate titanate ceramics. In general, precision of analysis was concentration dependent from each element under study. For Pb, precision varied between 0.13% and 0.16%, at higher concentration of 59.32–64.5%. It was around 6–9% for Sr, Cr and Nb at concentrations of 1% or lower. Particular attention was devoted to the estimation of the analysis trueness. With this purpose, three methods were applied: (1) comparison of PIXE and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry concentrations, (2) recovery study and (3) comparison with a laboratory standard. Trueness of analysis was around 100 ± 10% for the evaluated elements Pb, Zr, Ti, Sr and Cr. The expected stoichiometry and elemental composition homogeneity of a wide group of produced ceramics were confirmed by the PIXE technique. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

An inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP OES) method for Pb, Zr, Ti, Sr, Cr, Fe, Cu, Mn, and Al determination in PZT-ceramics is described. Careful analytical work was carried out in order to evaluate precision, accuracy, and matrix interference. Different procedures were investigated for the ceramics decomposition. Axially viewed plasma operating conditions were evaluated for trace elements (Al, Fe, Cu, Mn, and Cr) in presence of sample matrix. The relative standard deviation (RSD) ranged from 0.7 to 3.9%, whereas the analytes recoveries in the spiked samples ranged from 92 to 119%. The detection limits (LODs) of trace elements ranged from 2.4 to 2.6 mg g À1 . The developed method is useful for evaluating the PZT-ceramics synthesis.