You may remember we recently purchased a LECO GD-500A OES chemical analysis system to round out our weld testing capabilities (see my previous link – http://www.ewi.org/chemical-analysis-testing-time). Well it is finally here and we are officially running!
The LECO GDS-500A is an OES (Optical Emission Spectrometry) chemical analysis system for elemental analysis of ferrous and non-ferrous materials (click here for more info – http://www.leco.com/products/inorganic/gds/gds_500a/pdf/gds500brochure209-118.pdf). It requires a specimen approximately 1/4″ diameter or larger and can quickly determine the chemical content by “sparking” the surface. We have NIST calibrated standards for carbon steel, stainless steel, aluminum, titanium, and nickel.
Wayne Papageorge sitting in front of the LECO GDS-500A OES chemical analysis system
Having chemical analysis capabilities in house has reduced our lead time from 1-3 weeks down to 1-3 days! We now have complete control over our turnaround time for all of our weld testing services like weld PQR testing, WPS testing and consumable qualification testing per AWS A5!
Chemical analysis is just one more way that EWI Lab Services is helping our customers stay competitive. View all of our services here – http://www.ewi.org/blog/lab_main
Does EWI have experience in determining the %Fe profile in zinc coatings on steel using GD-OES?
%Fe is a standard element that can be determined using OES, however OES is probably not a good method for determining the depth or profile of a surface layer like a zinc coating. There are several other methods that can accomplish this depending on the level of accuracy that is needed – one example is EDS. OES assumes a homogeneous material is being analyzed and thus won’t give a surface profile.