Determination of Carbon Content in Steel Using Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy

Abstract

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy has been used to determine carbon content in steel. The plasma was formed by focusing a Nd:YAG laser on the sample surface. With the use of time-resolved spectroscopy and generation of the plasma in nitrogen atmosphere, a precision of 1.6% and a detection limit of 65 ppm have been obtained. These values are similar to those of other accurate conventional techniques. Matrix effects for the studied steels are reduced to a small slope difference between the calibration curves for stainless and nonstainless steels.