Improved LIBS limit of detection of Be, Mg, Si, Mn, Fe and Cu in aluminum alloy samples using a portable Echelle spectrometer with ICCD camera

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) is a laser-based technique that can provide non-intrusive, qualitative and quantitative measurement of metals in various environments. LIBS uses the plasma generated by a high-energy laser beam to prepare and excite the sample in one step. In the present work, LIBS has been applied to perform elemental analysis of six trace elements simultaneously in aluminum alloy targets. The plasma is generated by focusing a pulsed Nd:YAG laser on the target in air at atmospheric pressure. LIBS limit of detection (LOD) is affected by many experimental parameters such as interferences, self-absorption, spectral overlap and matrix effect. We aimed to improve the LIBS LOD by optimizing these experimental parameters as possible. In doing so, a portable Echelle spectrometer with intensified CCD camera was used to detect the LIBS plasma emission. This advanced Echelle spectrometer provides a constant spectral resolution (CSR) of 7500 corresponding to 4 pixels FWHM over a wavelength range 200–1000 nm displayable in a single spectrum. Then, the calibration curves for iron, beryllium, magnesium, silicon, manganese and copper as minor elements were achieved with linear regression coefficients between 98–99% on average in aluminum standard sample alloys. New LOD values were achieved in the ppm range with high precision (RSD 3–8%). From the application view point, improving LIBS LOD is very important in the on-line industrial process control to follow-up multi-elements for the correct alloying in metals.     

Review of methodological and experimental LIBS techniques for coal analysis and their application in power plants in China

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) is an emerging analytical spectroscopy technique. This review presents the main recent developments in China regarding the implementation of LIBS for coal analysis. The paper mainly focuses on the progress of the past few years in the fundamentals, data pretreatment, calibration model, and experimental issues of LIBS and its application to coal analysis. Many important domestic studies focusing on coal quality analysis have been conducted. For example, a proposed novel hybrid quantification model can provide more reproducible quantitative analytical results; the model obtained the average absolute errors (AREs) of 0.42%, 0.05%, 0.07%, and 0.17% for carbon, hydrogen, volatiles, and ash, respectively, and a heat value of 0.07 MJ/kg. Atomic/ionic emission lines and molecular bands, such as CN and C₂, have been employed to generate more accurate analysis results, achieving an ARE of 0.26% and a 0.16% limit of detection (LOD) for the prediction of unburned carbon in fly ashes. Both laboratory and on-line LIBS apparatuses have been developed for field application in coal-fired power plants. We consider that both the accuracy and the repeatability of the elemental and proximate analysis of coal have increased significantly and further efforts will be devoted to realizing large-scale commercialization of coal quality analyzer in China.     

基于自吸收量化的激光诱导等离子体表征方法

为了表征激光诱导等离子体的定量特征参数,提出了一种谱线自吸收量化的方法,通过获得分析元素谱线的半高全宽来量化谱线自吸收程度,进而得到等离子体的特征参数,包括电子温度、元素含量比以及辐射物质的绝对数密度.与传统激光诱导击穿光谱定量分析方法相比,新方法由于计算过程与谱线强度弱相关,所以分析结果基本不受自吸收效应的影响,同时也无需额外的光谱效率校准.基于铝锂合金的实验结果表明,该方法能够实现精确的相对定量分析和等离子体的特性诊断.     

实验参数对激光诱导铝合金产生等离子体光谱的影响

利用Nd∶YAG脉冲激光诱导击穿2519A铝合金产生等离子体光谱,采用光谱仪检测和记录了Al和Cu的原子谱线,并研究了不同实验参数或条件对该谱线的影响。结果表明,透镜到样品表面距离、探测角度、激光脉冲能量、观测高度和环境气压大小对实验分析性能,如谱线强度、信背比和实验可重复性等均有较大的影响,通过设置适当的实验条件可以获得最佳的实验结果。     

基于K-CV参数优化支持向量机的LIBS燃煤热值定量分析

热值是煤质特性的重要参数之一,很大程度上影响着燃煤锅炉的运行。为了克服传统检测方法所存在的问题,将激光诱导击穿光谱(LIBS)应用于燃煤热值的定量分析。煤的结构复杂,所含的元素种类众多,包括了主量元素、次量元素和痕量元素,致使煤的LIBS光谱信息复杂。如何有效提取LIBS光谱信息,实现准确的定量化测量是LIBS在煤特性检测中发挥作用的前提和基础。近年来,随着人工智能技术的发展,相关的分析技术也开始应用于煤的工业指标分析和热值预测中。为实现煤样品中LIBS光谱信息的有效提取,同时为克服常规的分析方法易出现的过渡拟合、收敛性不好等问题,提出采用结合K-fold Cross Validation(K-CV)参数优化的支持向量机(SVM)回归方法,实现LIBS定量分析煤中的热值。SVM方法是结构风险最小化的近似实现,可用于模式分类和非线性回归。为了得到有效的LIBS分析模型,实验选用44种电厂常用的热值含量不同的煤样作为实验对象,选择其中33个作为训练集,剩余11个为测试集。利用搭建的LIBS实验系统获取所选煤样品的等离子体发射光谱数据,首先分析了SVM热值回归模型的参数-惩罚因子C、核函数参数g与模型精度的关联,确定C和g最佳取值范围,然后分别建立了基于LIBS全谱和某些元素(非金属元素和金属元素)特征光谱的SVM回归模型。利用训练集光谱数据,结合K-CV法得到热值SVM回归模型的最优参数C和g的值,建立基于SVM最优参数的煤热值定量分析模型。然后将测试集的光谱数据作为输入量用于测试所建立模型的可靠性,得到分别采用全谱、非金属元素特征光谱、非金属与金属元素特征谱相结合的热值定量分析模型,其决定系数R2均达到0.99以上,均方误差分别为0.12,0.17和0.06 (MJ·kg-1)2,预测平均相对偏差分别为1.2%,1.23%和0.69%。结果表明：基于K-CV参数优化SVM回归方法可用于LIBS技术实现燃煤热值的定量分析,且可得到较高的分析精确度和准确度;同时通过对比选用不同的光谱特征的定量分析模型可知,采用非金属与金属元素的特征光谱所建立的基于K-CV参数优化SVM的热值定量模型,能够有效提高LIBS应用于快速检测煤热值的精度和准确度,实现煤热值的准确预测。     

激光诱导击穿光谱实验装置的参数优化研究

为了使激光诱导击穿光谱(LIBS)实验装置中的多个关键参数达到最优化设置,以便更好地服务于煤质分析,实验中对这些参数与煤粉等离子体中待测元素发射谱线信噪比间的关系进行了详细研究,并根据信噪比大小来进行最优化参数的选择.实验结果表明,对于本LIBS实验装置,其最优化参数设置是将激光脉冲能量设为120 mJ·Pulse-1...     

水泥生料品质激光在线检测设备研制

水泥质量的优劣直接影响到建筑工程的安全,使用品质合格的水泥材料是保证工程结构质量的必要前提,因此快速检测水泥生料成份对于及时指导调整原料配比和保障水泥产品品质具有重要意义。传统的生料检测需要经过取样、制样、化验等环节,检测结果严重滞后于生产。我们通过产学研协同攻关,研制了一套基于激光诱导击穿光谱(laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy, LIBS)技术的水泥生料品质在线检测设备,该设备由LIBS光学检测系统和气动取送样系统两部分组成,实现了对水泥生产线上水泥生料品质的实时连续测量,避免了传统的取制样环节,从而大大缩短了化验时间,所测水泥生料成分的实时数据能够及时指导调整水泥原料的配比,保证水泥质量的合格。我们利用该LIBS水泥品质在线检测设备对水泥生产线上生料中的主成分Al₂O₃,CaO,Fe₂O₃,MgO和SiO₂进行了定量分析,利用全谱归一化和支持向量机(support vector machine,SVM)对水泥生料建立定标模型,对水泥生料中Al₂O₃,CaO,Fe₂O₃,MgO和SiO₂测量的最大误差分别是0.34%,0.35%,0.07%,0.14%和0.55%。现场实验结果表明,本水泥生料品质激光在线检测设备的测量结果与传统化验法的结果相吻合,测量精度与X射线荧光光谱法(XRF)相接近,从而证实了LIBS可以作为水泥在线检测的一种有前景的方法。     

应用LIBS技术测量土壤重金属Cr含量

应用激光诱导击穿光谱分析技术(laser-induced break-down spectroscopy, LIBS)开展了土壤中重金属铬元素含量探测研究。实验中激光波长为1 064 nm, 脉冲宽度为8 ns, 重复频率10 Hz,选取Cr 427.4 nm作为光谱分析谱线。实验结果表明,在光谱采集相对于激光脉冲延迟时间为4.78 μs, 土壤样品表面位于聚焦透镜焦后1 mm的实验条件下, Cr元素浓度测量的相对标准偏差(RSD)为12.1%, 检测限为2.01 ppm, 元素实验测量与标准值的相对偏差为5.15%。可以看出LIBS技术具有低检测限、测量精度高等优点, 这对土壤中重金属污染和监测环境质量的精确、快速检测等问题具有重要意义。     

激光诱导击穿光谱技术快速探测煤灰中的重金属锌

煤灰的成分指的是煤中矿物质的完全燃烧,产生各种金属和非金属氧化物和盐,这是使用煤时的重要参数。煤被广泛用于生产和人民生活,作为重要的能源物质。大量来自燃煤燃烧的煤尘（煤灰）被释放到大气中并与大气中的各种物质相互作用而形成雾霾。煤灰中的金属氧化物和空气中的小液滴之间发生一系列物理化学反应,这导致了雾霾的形成。在实验中,采用激光诱导击穿光谱（LIBS）分析煤灰中的元素。实验样品由某钢铁公司提供,分为七个样品,并标上序号。样品分别加入蒸馏水和0.1‰,0.2‰,0.2％,0.4％,0.8％,1％硫酸锌溶液,分别用1～7号标记。为了获得更好的LIBS信号,样品被研磨为粉末状,并使用蒸馏水使硫酸锌与煤灰充分混合。通过使用压片机将煤灰压制成10 mm直径和10 mm厚的煤灰块。为获得准确的元素结果,X射线荧光光谱也被用作参考,并且原始样品不含锌元素。由于光谱分析和波长漂移现象的不确定性,因此实验中,分别选择了铁,钙,钛和铝四种高纯单质。在相同的实验条件下,将四条测量的元素谱线与NIST原子光谱数据库中相应的谱图比较。实验中的所有光谱根据波长差或偏移进行校正。此时,纯单质的元素谱线可以与样品的光谱对齐。当元素谱中的特征线与样品中的谱线对齐时,样品就可以被识别和确认。由于铝元素与目标元素具有相似的化学和物理性质,铝元素是煤灰和地壳中的主要元素之一,具有中等的光谱强度。因此将铝元素作为内标元素,运用内标校准方法来确定样品中锌的浓度。模拟含锌大气气溶胶是通过向煤灰中添加含锌元素来实现的。还有一些其他的金属元素,包括铁,钙,锰,钛和铝也被用来加入煤灰中,用以模拟大气气溶胶。两种方法的相对差异分别为1.78％,3.39％,5.17％,0.20％。造成差异的原因可能是由于光谱仪缺乏分辨率或背景噪声的影响,这是可能导致测量误差的原因之一。由于实验室条件的限制,无法确定基底是否会影响实验结果,这将在未来的实验中得到进一步的证实。实验拟合曲线测得煤灰中锌的线性相关系数为0.995 72,这表明可以通过粗略估算锌的激光强度来估计煤灰中的锌含量的实现。实验结果证明LIBS技术可用于煤灰中金属元素的快速检测,为基于锌含量的大气环境检测提供了一种新方法。在建立元素的校准曲线后,LIBS技术将来可以用来进行更快速,更准确的定量分析。     

应用激光诱导击穿光谱检测污水溶液中的砷

工业冶炼过程中产生的废水中含有As等重金属元素,对环境造成污染并对人类身体健康形成危害,有必要对其进行实时、在线的监测。激光诱导击穿光谱(LIBS)是一种新型的元素测量技术,具有快速检测等优点。文章作者搭建了一套激光诱导击穿光谱实验装置,采用Nd∶YAG激光器产生的脉冲激光击穿样品产生等离子体,其发射的光谱被中阶梯光栅光谱仪分光,并用ICCD进行光电探测。对从现场采集的含砷工业废水开展了LIBS探测实验,并定性分析出了As元素的特征谱线。根据一系列含As浓度不同的污水样品的LIBS实验结果,获得元素浓度与谱线强度的关系曲线(定标曲线)。采用定标曲线可以对未知含As浓度的工业废水进行定量分析。结果表明,采用LIBS方法能够实现对污水溶液中的As元素的快速检测,具有广泛的应用前景。     

激光波长对煤激光诱导击穿光谱特性影响的试验研究

我国电站入炉煤种复杂多变,实时快速获取煤质成分对保障锅炉的安全、高效、低污染运行具有重大意义。将激光诱导击穿光谱(LIBS)技术应用于燃煤煤质测量,观测了不同波长激光(355,532和1 064 nm)诱导产生的等离子体时间演变特性和不同电离特性元素的谱线时间特性,对比了出现屏蔽效应时的能量阈值随激光波长的变化特征,并研究了激光波长对煤LIBS光谱特性的影响规律。结果发现：使用532 nm激光作为激发光源时,煤LIBS光谱具有最强的谱线信号强度,且出现等离子体屏蔽效应的能量阈值也较高,是一种较理想的激发光源,为LIBS技术在煤质测量领域的工业应用提供了实验依据。     

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy: A versatile tool for monitoring traces in materials

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) is an emerging technique for simultaneous multi-elemental analysis of solids, liquids and gases with minute or no sample preparation and thus revolutionized the area of on-line analysis technologies. The foundation for LIBS is a solid state, short-pulsed laser that is focused on a sample to generate a high-temperature plasma, and the emitted radiation from the excited atomic and ionic fragments produced within the plasma is characteristic of the elemental composition of the sample that can be detected and analyzed using a suitable optical spectrograph. In the present paper, the applicability of LIBS for different solid samples having homogeneous (silver ornament, aluminum plate) or heterogeneous composition (soil) using nanosecond laser pulses is discussed. Nanosecond pulse laser makes plasma at the sample surface even at very low pulse energies and also allows for precise ablation of the substrate material with little damage to the surrounding area. We have also studied the penetration of different heavy metals inside the soil surface.      

Identification of multiple rare earths and associated elements in raw monazite sands by laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) is an emerging and promising tool for rapid and efficient elemental analysis. We used the LIBS technique to analyze the raw monazite sands collected from the beaches in southern Bangladesh. We have detected a number of rare earths (lanthanides) such as cerium, lanthanum, praseodymium, neodymium, yttrium, ytterbium, gadolinium, dysprosium and erbium, in addition to other metallic elements such as zirconium, chromium, titanium, magnesium, manganese, niobium and aluminum. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time multiple rare earths have been identified in a natural mineral by LIBS.     

Biomedical and environmental applicationsof laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) is an emerging analytical technique with numerous advantages such as rapidity, multi-elemental analysis, minimal sample preparation, minimal destruction, low cost and versatility of being applied to a wide range of materials. In this paper, we report the preliminary observations we obtained using LIBS for clinical and environmental samples. Elemental analysis has been done qualitatively in human teeth samples which show encouraging results. It has also been demonstrated in this paper that LIBS can be very well utilized in field applications such as plastic waste sorting and recycling.     

利用激光诱导击穿光谱对铝合金成分进行多元素同时定量分析

利用激光诱导击穿光谱定量分析了铝合金中多种元素的成分。采用Nd∶YAG脉冲激光器,在空气环境下烧蚀铝合金固体样品获得等离子体。利用多通道光栅光谱仪和CCD检测器对200～980 nm波长范围的光谱进行同时检测。研究了检测时延、激光脉冲能量、元素深度分布对光谱强度的影响,考虑这些因素之后对实验参数进行了优化。在优化的实验参数下对国家标准铝合金样品中的八种元素Si,Fe,Cu,Mn,Mg,Zn,Sn及Ni进行了定标,并利用定标曲线对一种铝合金样品进行了定量分析。实验结果表明,测量结果的相对标准偏差(RSD)最大为5.89%,相对误差在-20.99%～15%范围内,说明对铝合金样品成分进行定量分析,激光诱导击穿光谱是一种有效的光谱分析工具,但是分析结果的准确度仍需要提高。     

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy: technique,new features,and detection limits of trace elements in Al base alloy

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) has proven to be extremely versatile, providing multielement analysis in real time without sample preparation. The principle is based on the ablation of a small amount of target material by interaction of a strong laser beam with a solid target. The laser must have sufficient energy to excite atoms and to ionize them to produce plasma. We aimed to improve the LIBS limit of detection (LOD) and the precision of spectral lines emitted from the produced plasma by optimizing the parameters affecting the LIBS technique. LIBS LOD is affected by many experimental parameters such as interferences, self-absorption, spectral overlap, signal-to-noise ratio, and matrix effects. The plasma in the present study is generated by focusing a 6-ns pulsed Nd–YAG laser at the fundamental wavelength of 1,064 nm onto the Al target in air at atmospheric pressure. The emission spectra are recorded using an SE 200 Echelle spectrometer manufactured by the Catalina Corporation; it is equipped with an ICCD camera type Andor model iStar DH734-18. This spectrometer allows time-resolved spectral acquisition over the whole UV-NIR (200–1,000 nm) spectral range. Calibration curves for Cu, Mg, Mn, Si, Cr, and Fe were obtained with linear regression coefficients around 99 % on the average in aluminum standard alloy samples. The determined LOD has very useful improvements for Cu I at 521.85 nm, Si I at 288.15 nm, Mn I at 482.34 nm, and Cr I at 520.84 nm spectral lines. LOD is improved by 83.8 % for Cu, 49 % for Si, 84.3 % for Mn, and 45 % for Cr lower with respect to the previous works.     

基于LIBS煤中碳元素定量分析研究

详细介绍利用激光诱导击穿光谱(laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy,LIBS)进行煤中碳(C)元素含量定量分析的技术和手段。通过对光谱数据进行积分、归一化、筛选等处理,克服了由于激光源能量起伏、自吸收及样品表面粗糙度等因素引起分析精度差的缺点。该方法已应用到激光煤质在线分析仪中并取得了满意的分析结果,对煤粉中C元素含量分析的标准偏差不大于1.6%,其方法同样可用于煤中其他元素的分析。     

The use of zinc and iron emission lines in the depth profile analysis of zinc-coated steel

In this study we report on the results of experiments devoted to the depth profile analysis of zinc-coated steel samples using the laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) technique. The dependence of zinc and iron emissions in three ablation atmospheres (air, argon, helium) was measured using the fundamental wavelength (1064 nm) of the Nd:YAG laser. The highest possible depth resolution was achieved by optimizing the experimental parameters, such as the delay time (which affects the tailing of the zinc emission signal), focusing conditions, energy delivered to the sample, and choice of buffer gases. Current research indicates that there is a constant need to optimize these parameters so that reliable depth-profiling analysis can be performed.     

Quantitative analysis of cement powder by laser induced breakdown spectroscopy

Determination of elemental composition of cement powder plays an important role in the cement and construction industries. In the present paper, Laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) is used for measuring the concentration of cement ingredient. Cement powder samples are pressed into pellets. Laser pulses are focused on the surface of pellets. A microplasma is formed in the front of samples. The plasma emission contains information about the elemental composition of the samples. By assumption of local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) and using several standard cement samples, a calibration curve is prepared for each element. The major and minor elements of cement such as Ca, Si, K, Mg, Al, Na, Ti, Mn and Sr are qualitatively and quantitatively determined. For verification of LTE conditions, plasma parameters such as plasma electron temperature and electron density are computed. According to the obtained results, the LIBS technique could be a suitable method for determination of elemental composition in the cement production industries.     

准东煤中碱金属含量的LIBS激光测量

电站锅炉燃用准东煤后存在的严重结渣、积灰等问题跟煤中高含量的碱金属(Na,K)有关。采用化学方法对准东煤进行处理以制取一定碱金属含量范围的煤样本,采用激光诱导击穿光谱(LIBS)技术对准东煤的Na,K含量进行定标与预测。结果表明:LIBS技术对Na,K元素的测量具有较高的灵敏度、较低的检测极限和较小的预测误差均方根(RMSEP)。尽管元素含量较低时,LIBS测量数据的相对标准偏差(RSD)较大,但当元素含量达到一定值后,其RSD趋于稳定,通过大量的重复测量可以保证测量的正确性。由于LIBS技术本身有快速同位测量的优点,因此LIBS可以作为在线测量煤中碱金属含量的一种手段。