Materials which are not fully dissolved by acid-digestion at atmospheric pressure may require a more vigorous treatment in pressure vessels lined with polytetrafluoroethylene (
PTFE) glass, silica or vitreous (glassy) carbon or in sealed silica tubes; this treatment is called bomb-digestion. The test sample and acids are heated in such a closed vessel, so that the digestion is carried out at higher temperature and pressure.
Source:
PAC, 1988, 60, 1461. 'Nomenclature, symbols, units and their usage in spectrochemical analysis-X. Preparation of materials for analytical atomic spectroscopy and other related techniques (Recommendations 1988)' on page 1469 (https://doi.org/10.1351/pac198860091461)