Real time analysis of temperature and material composition in steel me

The Swedish steel industry is a world leader in special steels for advanced applications and supplies customized specialty alloy steels with very high demands on composition and quality.

To meet customers' ever-increasing demands, steel companies work continuously with their processes and their process control. Particularly problematic is to obtain data ​​directly from a melt, during production.

Typical analysis methods are largely based on sampling and analysis in the lab, time consuming methods that do not provide real-time feedback to the process control.

In this project, we have focused on continuous, automatic and robust measurement methods for analysis directly in a steel melt. Continuous measurement provides data for controlling the processes with increased precision and can contribute to higher product quality and reduced production costs. Better control could also contribute to lower consumption of energy and raw materials.

The project further developed methods for real-time measurements of temperature and chemical composition in steel melts.

The development of a lance system with integrated LIBS (materials analysis) and temperature sensor systems was initiated in an earlier project. This project will further developed the lance and sensor systems. 

Further, the project extended the development of high-temperature materials to improve the lance's resistance to heat and corrosion, and miniaturized sensor techniques will be studied and developed targeting use in steel production. 

Field tests were carried out in experimental furnaces and steelworks of the end users.

The project is carried out within the Strategic Innovation Program "Smarter Electronic Systems", a joint venture by Vinnova, Formas and the Swedish Energy Agency.