High-Temperature Fiber-Optic Raman Sensor for Steel Manufacturing

Abstract

The continuous casting process for steel production utilizes specially designed oxyfluoride glasses (mold fluxes) to lubricate the mold and control the steel solidification process. The composition of the flux controls important properties, such as viscosity, basicity, and crystallization rate, which in turn influences the quality of the as-cast product. However, these fluxes also interact with the steel during casting, causing chemistry shifts that must be anticipated in the design of the flux. Today, the in-service chemistry of the flux must be determined by taking flux samples from the mold during casting and then processing the samples off-line to determine chemistry and other physical properties, such as viscosity. Raman spectroscopy provides an alternative method for flux analysis, with the possibility of performing direct on-line analysis during casting. Raman spectroscopy has the unique ability to identify specific molecules through well-resolved vibrational bands that provide fingerprint signatures of the structure of the molecules. Specific peaks in the Raman spectra can be correlated with flux chemistry and viscosity. The work reported here aims to assess the structure and chemical composition of flux samples at high temperatures using fiber-optic Raman spectroscopy. Results from Raman spectral analyses captured the 1300 °C for a range of flux chemistries are presented. The experimental results demonstrate that the composition-dependent Raman signal shift can be detected at high temperatures and that on-line flux analysis using a high-temperature Raman system shows significant promise.

Department(s)

Materials Science and Engineering

Second Department

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Keywords and Phrases

Raman spectroscopy, Fiber optics sensors, Fiber optics, Manufacturing, Sensors, Chemical analysis, Industrial chemicals, Molecular spectroscopy, Molecules, Statistical analysis

Document Type

Video - Conference proceedings

Document Version

Citation

File Type

movingimage

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2024 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE), all rights reserved

Publication Date

13 June, 2022

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