Bruker launches hand-held LIBS for light element alloy scrap sorting

Bruker Corp., based in Kennewick, Washington, has introduced the new EOS 500 hand-held laser induced breakdown spectrometer (HH-LIBS) for high-speed analysis of metals and alloys, providing grade identification and chemistry in light element alloys containing lithium, magnesium, aluminum or silicon.

The company says the spectrometer offers speed, accuracy and repeatability and that compared with hand-held XRF, light element analysis with the EOS 500 is approximately 10 times faster.

The company says the EOS 500 is suited for quality assurance (QA), metal fabrication and positive material identification (PMI) and is designed to be durable in the demanding conditions associated with the scrap recycling industry. According to Bruker, the rugged design ensures that the EOS 500 will withstand field operation in nearly all environments, including humid and dusty conditions.

Bruker says the EOS 500 also features an Air-Flow Optics Shield, designed to create a continuous air shield in front of the optics to prevent dust buildup.

Additional EOS 500 features, Bruker says, include:

• a proprietary 1064-nanometer (nm) laser for low background laser ablation atomic emission spectroscopy, eliminating the need for complicated gating systems; 
• designed to easily analyze challenging elements, such as silicon and magnesium, at less than 0.1 percent concentration levels within seconds; 
• multidetector design allows the EOS 500 to cover an extended wavelength range from 170 to 720 nanometers while maintaining outstanding resolution for a complicated metal matrix such as titanium;
• broad wavelength range allows the detection of elements such as lithium, beryllium and cesium, which a single detector could not cover; and
• extensive wavelength range allows the EOS 500 to use alternative wavelengths and hence achieve better accuracy by avoiding spectrum overlap.

“Advances in laser technology have enabled the miniaturization and portability of LIBS, which we have now commercialized in the EOS 500,” comments John Landefeld, general manager of the Bruker Nano Analytics division’s hand-held, mobile and portable business unit. “Bruker moved quickly to provide this new hand-held system to our customers, enabling them to work faster and more profitably. LIBS analysis has an important place in metals industries, as a complementary technique to handheld XRF.”

Bruker says that each technique has advantages measuring certain elements and certain types of alloys. HH-LIBS is well-suited to rapidly measuring the low atomic number elements like the alkaline and alkaline-earth metals, but may not be as well-suited to measuring high atomic number elements such as the refractory elements. HH-XRF, on the other hand, is well-suited to measuring high atomic number elements but may not be as well-suited to measuring low atomic number elements. This makes HH-LIBS a preferable technique for light alloys, Bruker says, such as magnesium, aluminum and titanium alloys, while HH-XRF can be a superior technique for measuring stainless steel and high temperature alloys. (For more information on hand-held XRF, please visit www.bruker.com/hhxrf)