Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) is a fast and versatile technique for (semi) quantitative element analysis of solids, liquids, gases, and particulate matter. The LIBS method is used for optical sensing in various branches of industrial production. In the contribution we review some of our recent results on LIBS analysis of slags from secondary metallurgy in industrial steel making. Major oxides in steel slags are measured at-line and after homogenization using a calibration-free (CF) method. Two approaches for CF analysis based on the Boltzmann plot method and on the calculation of synthetic spectra are compared for the analysis of quaternary oxides. We also present the research in cooperation with our industrial partners in the process-analytical chemistry network PAC.
Under the assumption of local thermal equilibrium, a numerical algorithm is proposed to find the equation of state for laser-induced plasmas (LIPs) in which chemical reactions are permitted in addition to ionization processes. The Coulomb interaction in plasma is accounted for by the DebyeHückel method. The algorithm is used to calculate the equation of state for LIPs containing carbon, silicon, nitrogen, and argon. The equilibrium reaction constants are calculated using the latest experimental and ab initio data of spectroscopic constants for the molecules N2 ,C2 ,Si2 ,CN,SiN,SiC and their ions. The algorithm is incorporated into a fluid dynamic numerical model based on the NavierStokes equations describing an expansion of LIP plumes into an ambient gas. The dynamics of LIP plumes obtained by the ablation of SiC, solid silicon, or solid carbon in an ambient gas containing N2 and Ar is simulated to study formation of molecules and molecular ions.
Recently, the detection of molecular species in laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) has gained increasing interest, particularly for isotopic analysis. In LIBS of organic materials, it is predominantly CN and C2 species that are formed, and multiple mechanisms may contribute to their formation. To gain deeper insight into the formation of these species, laser-induced plasma of 13C and 15N labeled organic materials was investigated in a temporally and spatially resolved manner. LIBS on fumaric acid with a 13C labeled double bond allowed the formation mechanism of C2 to be investigated by analyzing relative signal intensities of 12C2, 12C13C, and 13C2 molecules. In the early plasma (<5 µs), the majority of C2 originates from association of completely atomized target molecules, whereas in the late plasma, the increased concentration of 13C2 is due to incomplete dissociation of the carbon double bond. The degree of this fragmentation was found to be up to 80% and to depend on the type of the atmospheric gas. Spatial distributions of C2 revealed distinct differences for plasma generated in nitrogen and argon. A study of the interaction of ablated organics with ambient nitrogen showed that the ambient nitrogen contributed mainly to CN formation. The pronounced anisotropy of the C15N to C14N ratio across the diameter of the plasma was observed in the early plasma, indicating poor initial mixing of the plasma with the ambient gas. Overall, for accurate isotope analysis of organics, LIBS in argon with relatively short integration times (<10 µs) provides the most robust results. On the other hand, if information about the original molecular structure is of interest, then experiments in nitrogen (or air) with long integration times appear to be the most promising.