Determination of trace heavy metals in some textile products produced in Turkey

The concentrations of trace heavy metals in textile samples collected from Tokat, Turkey, were determined by flame and/or graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry after microwave digestion. The relative standard deviations for the determinations were found to be lower than 10 %. The concentrations of trace metals in analyzed textile samples were found to be in the range of 0.76-341 μg g-1 for Cu, 0.10-0.25 μg g-1 for Cd, 0.63-4.84 μg g-1 for Zn, 1.02-2.50 μg g-1 for Mn, 3.55-34.3 μg g-1 for Fe, and 1.20-4.69 μg g-1 for Ni, respectively. Copper and cadmium contents in textile products analyzed were found to be higher than limit values given by Oeko-Tex. The results of the present work for textile products are compared with literature values. KEY WORDS: Trace metals, Textile samples, Atomic absorption spectrometry, Microwave digestion, Turkey Bull. Chem. Soc. Ethiop. 2008, 22(3), 379-384.