Real-Time Analysis Of Glass & Glass Raw Materials Using Libs

Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) offers the glass industry a means of obtaining real-time analyses of glass and raw materials. LIBS, a type of atomic emission spectroscopy, uses a laser to excite elements within a sample. Repetitive laser pulses are focused on the sample surface, resulting in heating and vaporization of an ~1mm diameter spot of the material. The light emitted from the resultant plasma is dispersed through a spectrograph, and detected using charge-coupled device detectors. The instrument is calibrated for the elements of choice, and numerous laser pulses are averaged, resulting in compositional analyses in less than 1 minute.