Fast identification of steel bloom composition at a rolling mill by laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) is applied for the elemental analysis of steel blooms in a rolling mill. The 2-3 tons steel blooms with superficial scale are transported in a sequence on a roller table to successive processing steps. Laser ablation of the scale and the analysis of the subsurface bulk steel is carried out using the same laser in < 50 s during scheduled stop times of the roller table. Up to 14 elements such as Ni, Cr, and Mo are measured for several hundreds of blooms of low and high alloy steel during routine production. The comparison of the measured with the nominal compositions, results in root mean square errors of prediction in the range of 0.01-0.2 m.-%. The rolling sequence is clearly reflected by the LIBS measurement of the individual blooms demonstrating the feasibility for material identification. Identification rates are estimated from computer simulations by permutation of the LIBS measured values and the reference values from the rolling sequence.