DEVELOPMENTS IN EMISSION SPECTRAL-ANALYSI S AS A PREREQUISITE FOR PROGRESS IN METALLURGY

Objective. By examining the developments and diverse applications of e mission spectral analysis, it can be shown that scientific knowledge a nd the state of analytical methods are linked with the progress achiev ed in process metallurgy. The interdisciplinary dialogue that has take n place between metallurgists and analytical chemists for more than 13 0 years is illustrated by a look at the history of spectroscopy. Summa ry. Analytical chemistry has been a constant, close companion of metal lurgy throughout its evolution, and metallurgical processes have partl y become possible for the first time through the availability of proce ss-compatible and time-critical analysis methods. The prerequisite for selectively controlling the basic oxygen steel making process, for ex ample, has been created by the development of an analysis method that takes only minutes to perform. The possibilities offered by electronic data processing have brought the far-reaching automation of spectroan alytical methods, leading to the creation of comprehensively automated analysis systems and to unmanned on-line spectrometer lines. There ha ve, for some years now, been endeavours to use emission spectroscopy f or the in-line analysis of hot metal and molten steel. This would resu lt in shorter analysis times an direct information.