The oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen elements in iron and steel materials are based on methods such as inert gas melting method (infrared absorption thermal conductivity method) and mass spectrometry method. Mass spectrometry is to determine the oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen content of liquid steel materials after melting them at high temperatures. The technology is relatively new.
The main test method for oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen in steel is still to use the inert gas fusion method to analyze the sample.
The analysis principle of this method is that the oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen elements in the sample are released by high temperature heating under inert gas conditions. Oxygen is converted into a mixture of CO and CO2, and the catalyst oxidizes the CO in it to CO2. The oxygen content is calculated by measuring the CO2 content in the infrared detection cell, and the content of N and H is measured in the form of N2 and H2 by a thermal conductivity detector.
Using the inert gas melting method to analyze steel samples, one oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen analyzer can be compatible with various shapes of samples such as small blocks, chips, and powders. For analysis, you only need to import the weight of the sample into the instrument software, and then put the sample into the instrument inlet, and through the instrument software, the sample will be automatically analyzed in the instrument and the analysis results will be automatically displayed. The specific process is shown in the figure below.
The inert gas fusion method allows for the analysis of a very wide range of oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen contents, ranging from ppm level testing to 100% by means of infrared spectroscopy and thermal conductivity detector qualitative, peak area quantification. The instrument method is simple to operate and can meet the detection needs of high-throughput samples. At the same time, it is also one of the national standard methods.