Determination of sulphur in steel by a modified combustion procedure and coulometric titration

Abstract

The quantitative determination of sulphur in steel by the combustion method is inefficient as the sulphur content of samples indicated by this method is lower than that given by other methods because sulphur trioxide occurring in the combustion furnace tends to condense in the piping. An attempt has been made to establish how this sulphur trioxide condensation occurs, and a unique, automatic circulation type of adsorption method has been devised to ensure complete collection of gaseous sulphur occurring in the combustion. For this purpose, a practical sulphur analyser with high sensitivity and accuracy has been developed in which and automatic coulometric titrator and a high-frequency induction furnace are combined. Standard samples of various types of iron and steel analysed with this apparatus showed that the results agreed well with their standard values.