After appreciation of several shape criteria, a graphite characterizat
ion method, adapted in the case of GS pig iron, was developed at CTIF.
The sensitivity of various criteria to particle lengthening and to ir
regularities in their outlines was determined. The criteria could be c
lassified into two categories, depending on their sensitivity noticed:
the most performing one of each category was retained. Six classes ar
e proposed for the automatic characterization of the graphite shape. A
fter a completely original test for determining the class, the analysi
s program estimates the rate of particles in each of the classes.