Stainless steel, Ti, Al, and Cu are commonly used as metal 3D printing materials, and customers have expressed a desire to be able to quickly manage the amounts of oxygen (O) and nitrogen (N) in those materials. For example, if the Ti material contains a large amount of oxygen (O), oxides will be produced, which can lead to defects in the printed part.

Steel coating plays an important role in preventing corrosion of steel samples. Therefore, an understanding of coatings can help in improving the steel properties. XRF is a powerful technique for measuring thickness and composition of coatings. We carried out non-destructive thickness and composition analysis of Zinc-Nickel coating on steel using the MESA-50 X-ray fluorescence analyzer.

As the steel materials are becoming more sophisticated, such as natural gas or crude oil pipeline, sulfur content is recommended below 0.5 ppm. Hence, more accurate ultra-trace amount sulfur analysis is required. Analysis of trace amount of sulfur in steel materials can be done quickly with the conventional combustion-infrared absorption method, but the problem is that the sensitivity of the detector is insufficient and it can not be measured.

Fast analysis of microscopic metal particles is an important application for engineering (e.g. engine wear analysis). Micro-XRF scanning and spot analysis of specific fragments identifies their chemical composition.

The EDXRF technique is used for the elemental analysis not only of solids, but also of liquids such as plating solution thanks to dedicated sample cells. This specific example shows the ability of MESA-50 for electrolytic baths follow-up by characterizing the degradation of Zn-Ni galvanization baths.

EMGA has been designed for accurate measurements of hydrogen content in different sample types such as ferrous metals, non-ferrous metals, semiconductors or electronic materials. The hydrogen content is extracted by fusion of the sample in inert gas and analyzed by a high sensitivity thermal conductivity detector. It is also possible to avoid fusion and extract hydrogen content in the sample by heating below the melting point. The purpose of this note is to explain when to use fusion or solid extraction, the benefits, the applications and samples.

Ferrosilicon is added as a deoxidant and as an alloying element to steel, that require a special low carbon content. The Low Carbon in Ferrosilicon decreases the electrical conductivity and magnetostriction of electrical steels.