Industrial applications of LIBS

Reinhard Noll; Volker Sturm; Michael Stepputat; Andrew Whitehouse; James Young; Philip Evans

doi:10.1017/CBO9780511541261.012

11 - Industrial applications of LIBS

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 08 August 2009

James Young and

Edited by

Andrzej W. Miziolek ,

Vincenzo Palleschi and

Israel Schechter

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Reinhard Noll: Affiliation:
Fraunhofer-Institut für Lasertechnik (ILT), Germany
Volker Sturm: Affiliation:
Fraunhofer-Institut für Lasertechnik (ILT), Germany
Michael Stepputat: Affiliation:
Fraunhofer-Institut für Lasertechnik (ILT), Germany
Andrew Whitehouse: Affiliation:
Applied Photonics Ltd, Skipton, North Yorkshire, UK
James Young: Affiliation:
Applied Photonics Ltd, Skipton, North Yorkshire, UK
Philip Evans: Affiliation:
Applied Photonics Ltd, Skipton, North Yorkshire, UK
Andrzej W. Miziolek: Affiliation:
U.S. Army Research Laboratory, USA
Vincenzo Palleschi: Affiliation:
Istituto per I Processi Chimico-Fisici, Italy
Israel Schechter: Affiliation:
Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa

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Summary

Introduction

The availability of compact and reliable laser sources, sensitive optical detectors, and powerful computers has helped to stimulate significant growth in industrial applications of LIBS during the past decade. This, together with a better understanding of the physical processes involved when intense laser radiation interacts with a material, has helped researchers to exploit the LIBS technique for various industrial applications ranging from process control of materials during manufacturing to rapid sorting of scrap materials during recycling and remote characterization of highly radioactive nuclear waste. LIBS is still regarded as an emerging technology and there remain many technological barriers that must be overcome before widespread industrial use becomes a reality.

This chapter aims to provide the reader with a general overview of industrial applications of LIBS and is not meant to provide an exhaustive review of the field. The scope has been restricted to applications of LIBS in an industrial rather than laboratory environment. Accordingly, the various laboratory-based LIBS instruments that are now available from a number of manufacturers are not discussed here. The chapter has been written in four sections relating to the following general areas of industry: (ⅰ) metals and alloys processing, (ⅱ) scrap sorting and recycling, (ⅲ) nuclear power generation and spent fuel reprocessing, and (ⅳ) miscellaneous industrial applications.

Metals and alloys processing

Background

The continuously increasing requirements for productivity and product quality in the metal producing and processing industries initiate the demand for measuring methods having the potential to analyze the chemical composition of the processed materials at high speed and – if possible – on-line.

Type: Chapter
Information: Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy , pp. 400 - 439

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511541261.012 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2006

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11 - Industrial applications of LIBS

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