Thermo Fisher Scientific Ships its 300th ARL 4460 Metals Analyzer with SMS-2000 Automation to Tata Steel India

Tata Steel store hot liquid iron (hot metal) from the blast furnace in mixers at the melting shop. This is then converted to steel by removing its carbon, silicon, sulfur and phosphorous contents. Since this is a particularly time-sensitive process, Tata Steel required an analyzer capable of measuring the chemical composition of steel samples quickly without compromising efficiency. Coupled to a fully automatic SMS-2000 Sample Manipulation System, the ARL 4460 analyzer requires no manual intervention, thus achieving predictable, reproducible and short response times. As a result, production quality and capacity are optimized.

The system follows a fairly simple and straightforward procedure:
• A miller prepares the samples based on procedures specific to each type of samples.
• A robot takes over the prepared samples for analysis. To further optimize analysis time, the spark positions are selected by a vision system based on a high-resolution digital camera and waiting positions are used to increase sample cadence. Samples are analyzed and the results are transmitted via a computer network.
• The chemical compositions measured include low N2 and low C for a large variety of steel grades, eliminating the need for combustion analysis.
• Following analysis, the samples are labeled, sorted and filed.

Control samples are used to permanently monitor the performance of the ARL 4460 metals analyzer, which also has the capability to take corrective steps to ensure accurate and reliable results.

The acquisition of the ARL 4460 is part of Tata Steel’s strategy to remain ahead of the competition, achieving the lowest steel production costs of its current capacity at Jamshedpur of 5 million tonnes of steel, which is expected to increase to 7 million tonnes by 2008.