Brendan Connors

The Z-500 also analyzes base metals and trade elements, including Mg, Ti, V, Cr, Fe, Mn, Cu, Ni, and others. Trace metals of commercial interest or as pathfinders including Li, Be, B, C, and halogens including F, Cl, and Br are also analyzed. Figure 2 shows results for Li analysis, as an example. The results for lithium analysis were reasonably good. While there is some scatter in the data, the HH LIBS is measuring very low concentrations, in the 10–30 ppm concentration range. In general, the results for B, Be, Mg, Ba, and other elements were comparable, in terms of correlation, with the Li data.

This paper describes a handheld LIBS device that analyzes major elements, transition and heavy metals in geochemical samples. A breakthrough of this technique is the ability to analyze very low atomic number elements including H, Li, Be, B, C, F, Na and others never before measured in the field with a handheld analyzer.

Analysis of stainless steels and nickel alloys with handheld LIBS has proven challenging because Molybdenum – a key alloy element in the 0.5-3% level – is refractory and requires a much hotter plasma than many miniature, commercially available lasers can provide. A new proprietary laser design was utilized in a handheld LIBS analyzer and is shown to provide much better quantitative analysis of Mo down to 0.15% concentration.