RARE-EARTH-ELEMENTS; SPACE EXPLORATION; IRON OBJECTS; STEEL WORKS; ICP-MS; LIBS; SPECTROMETRY; UNIVARIATE; SAMPLES; CURVES

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) was used for the analysis of charcoal blast furnace slags. Plasma was generated by an application of a 1064 nm wavelength Nd:YAG laser beam to the surface of pellets created from the slags. The presence of Al, Ca, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, and Si was determined by identifying their characteristic spectral signatures. Multivariate analysis was performed for the quantification of these elements. The predicted LIBS results were found in agreement with the inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry analysis. The limit of detection for Al, Ca, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, and Si was calculated to be 0.10%, 0.22%, 0.02%, 0.01%, 0.01%, 0.005%, and 0.18%, respectively. (C) 2017 Optical Society of America