The development of remote spectrographic heads for metallurgical analysis and their application to product inspection analysis

Abstract

Direct-reading optical-emission spectroscopy has been widely adopted in the iron and steel industry as a rapid analytical technique for process control and for other laboratory analyses. The conventional spark stand, however, severely restricts the size and shape of the sample that can be accommodated on the instrument and thus limits the more general use of the technique for on-site analysis outside the laboratory. This disadvantage has now been overcome by using a fibre-optic light-guide to link a mobile excitation head to a conventional spectrometer.

Parallel but independent work has been carried out in the authors' laboratories, first on photographic and later on direct-reading spectrometers. At the Corby laboratories, further work has resulted in the manufacture and application of an inspection analyser that incorporates a 5-m guide. Typical calibration graphs, reproducibilities and examples of material identification are given, and possible applications are discussed.