Characterization of trace element impurities and carbon isotope delta in HIPC-1, a high-purity graphite certified reference material

Due to its unique properties, various forms of graphite are one of the most widely utilized industrial materials. HIPC-1, a high-purity graphite certified reference material, was developed at the National Research Council of Canada as a calibrant for carbon isotope delta and carbon mass fraction measurements. The certified carbon isotope delta value was calibrated using ten reference materials and is reported on both the VPDB-LSVEC scale (-26.32 ± 0.11 ‰, k = 2) and the VPDB scale (-26.21 ± 0.11 ‰, k = 2). The expanded uncertainty includes contributions from characterization, coherence of the carbon isotope delta reference materials, and bottle to bottle homogeneity of HIPC-1. Elemental impurities and the mass fraction of carbon in HIPC-1 were determined using glow discharge mass spectrometry (GD-MS), and the certified value of the mass fraction of carbon is 0.999889 ± 0.000268 kg/kg (k = 2).