Background

Blast furnace slag is formed when iron ore or iron pellet, coke and flux are melted in a blast furnace of the iron foundry. The rapid chemical analysis of a blast furnace slag is an important task to control the blast furnace. X-ray fluorescence spectrometers are the most common analysis tools to analyze powder samples in iron and steel making process. This application note describes blast furnace slag analysis using ZSX PrimusIII+, which has tube above optics, where the X-ray tube is placed above the sample. Tube above optics reduces the risk of instrument contamination or damage that can occur when pressed pellet samples break inside the spectrometer while being measured or transported to the measurement position. The ZSX PrimusIII+ is ideal for the steel industry where both bulk metal and powder samples are analyzed as part of the process control in steel manufacturing. The system software is based on Rigaku’s Flowbar interface that leads the user through a series of step by step procedures to optimize and execute measurements. “EZ analysis”, another Rigaku software innovation, greatly simplifies the analysis setup and sample analysis.