This invention relates to nonferrous metallurgy, in particular to a device and method for electrolyte composition analysis based on differential thermal measurements for aluminum electrolysis control. The device is comprised of a metal body including a reference material and an electrolyte sample receptacle, temperature sensors immersed into the reference material and in an electrolyte sample, a system for registration, data processing, and visualization of obtained results. A method includes immersing a metal body into an electrolyte; filling a receptacles with the molten electrolyte; removing and cooling down the metal body having the filled receptacle above a crust on the molten electrolyte surface; drawing and analyzing differential-thermal curves based on which the liquidus temperature, electrolyte superheating and phase and blend compositions of electrolyte solid samples are determined taking into account all crystallizing phases the content of which in the electrolyte sample is no less than 3 wt %.

A slag volume evaluation method for a molten metal surface includes calculating an approximation curve indicating a correspondence between a thickness of slag and a density parameter in advance by measuring thicknesses of a plurality of pieces of the slag which float on a surface of a molten metal in a container and differ from each other in thickness, and calculating a value of the density parameter which is correlated to a density in a pixel region corresponding to the plurality of pieces of the slag in a captured image of a molten metal surface in the container; and calculating a volume of the slag by calculating and integrating the thickness of the slag for each of pixels constituting the captured image obtained by capturing an image of the molten metal surface which is an evaluation target, according to a value of the density parameter of each of the pixels and the approximation curve.

The method comprises the following steps: a) Providing a sonotrode (1) formed from an essentially inert material with respect to the liquid metal, such as a ceramic, and preferably a silicon nitride or a silicon oxynitride, such as SIALON, or a metal essentially inert to said liquid metal, b) Immersing at least partially the sonotrode (1) in a bath of said metal, c) Applying to the sonotrode (1) power ultrasounds, particularly ultrasounds having a power greater than 10 watts to obtain the wetting of said sonotrode by said metal, d) Applying continuously to the sonotrode (1) measurement ultrasounds, also known as testing ultrasounds, particularly ultrasounds wherein the frequency is between 1 and 25 MHz, e) Applying intermittently to the sonotrode (1) power ultrasounds, particularly ultrasounds having a power greater than 10 watts, to maintain said wetting.

The method comprises the following steps: a) Providing a sonotrode (1) formed from an essentially inert material with respect to the liquid metal, such as a ceramic, and preferably a silicon nitride or a silicon oxynitride, such as SIALON, or a metal essentially inert to said liquid metal, b) Immersing at least partially the sonotrode (1) in a bath of said metal, c) Applying to the sonotrode (1) power ultrasounds, particularly ultrasounds having a power greater than 10 watts to obtain the wetting of said sonotrode by said metal, d) Applying continuously to the sonotrode (1) measurement ultrasounds, also known as testing ultrasounds, particularly ultrasounds wherein the frequency is between 1 and 25 MHz, e) Applying intermittently to the sonotrode (1) power ultrasounds, particularly ultrasounds having a power greater than 10 watts, to maintain said wetting.

A method of detecting slag in a molten steel flow includes an image capturing step of sequentially capturing a molten steel flow which is directed from a converter toward a ladle and includes molten steel and slag to acquire a plurality of captured images of the molten steel flow, a histogram creation step of creating a histogram for each captured image, a maximum peak point detection step of detecting a maximum peak point, in which the number of pixels is an absolute maximum value, for each histogram, and a maximum peak point type determination step of determining to which of the slag or the molten steel the maximum peak point of each histogram corresponds.

A method of detecting slag in a molten steel flow, includes a histogram creation step of creating a histogram for a captured image of a molten steel flow including molten steel and slag, a maximum peak point detection step of detecting a maximum peak point of the histogram, an intermediate peak point detection step of detecting an intermediate peak point of the histogram, an intermediate peak point counting step of counting the number Nh of intermediate peak points having a density parameter larger than the density parameter at the maximum peak point and the number N1 of intermediate peak points having a density parameter smaller than the density parameter at the maximum peak point, and a maximum peak point type determination step of determining a type of the maximum peak point by a magnitude relationship between the number N1 and the number Nh.

A method for managing a casting process based on measured properties of molding sand is provided so that casting defects or energy used can be reduced by changing the molding conditions for the mold to be produced or changing the steps after molding. The method for managing a casting process based on the properties of the molding sand includes a step (1) of measuring the properties of the molding sand just before the molding sand is supplied to a molding machine (40) and a step (2) of determining if the measured properties of the molding sand comply with predetermined properties so as to then switch between a step of molding a mold when the measured properties do comply with the predetermined properties and a step of molding a mold when the measured properties do not comply with the predetermined properties.

A modified method and apparatus for measuring elements in a liquid metal or alloy sample (23) with Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS). The apparatus comprises a pulsed excitation laser (1) and an instrument head (6) comprising a laser path channel (10), laser excitation optics (2), receiving optics for receiving emission from a plasma (3) created by the interaction of the laser (1) and the sample (23), an open-bottom chamber (5) extending upwardly from a flat bottom surface (7) of the instrument head (6), the laser path channel (10) extending to said chamber (5), and preferably a gas channel (12) for feeding gas to the open-bottom chamber (5). The laser (1) and laser excitation optics (2) are configured such that when the instrument head (6) is at a distance from a sample surface in the range of 1-10 mm, the focal point of the pulsed excitation laser is beneath the sample surface at a distance which is more than one Rayleigh length of the focused excitation laser beam.

A modified method and apparatus for measuring elements in a liquid metal or alloy sample (23) with Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS). The apparatus comprises a pulsed excitation laser (1) and an instrument head (6) comprising a laser path channel (10), laser excitation optics (2), receiving optics for receiving emission from a plasma (3) created by the interaction of the laser (1) and the sample (23), an open-bottom chamber (5) extending upwardly from a flat bottom surface (7) of the instrument head (6), the laser path channel (10) extending to said chamber (5), and preferably a gas channel (12) for feeding gas to the open-bottom chamber (5). The laser (1) and laser excitation optics (2) are configured such that when the instrument head (6) is at a distance from a sample surface in the range of 1-10 mm, the focal point of the pulsed excitation laser is beneath the sample surface at a distance which is more than one Rayleigh length of the focused excitation laser beam.

Disclosed is a disc-shaped sample chamber for collecting molten metal, the chamber comprising: a chamber body having a left body and a right body bonded to each other to define a disc-shaped sample space therebetween; an inlet extending upward from the chamber body and connecting the sample space with the outside; and a welded bonding portion disposed on at least one lateral face of the chamber body for bonding the left body and the right body to each other. Further, a probe having the chamber is disclosed.