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LPD Lab Services

LECO Carbon and Sulphur Analysis

LECO Carbon and Sulphur analyserLPD Lab Services CS230 Carbon and Sulphur Determinator is designed to measure carbon and sulphur content in metals, ores, ceramics and other inorganic materials using a combustion infrared IR quantification method.

Typlical LECO Applications

  • Metals and Alloys such as steels, stainless steels, nickel and cobalt superalloys, brass, bronze and other copper alloys.
  • Ores and raw materials like limestone-dolomite, lithium iron phosphate battery materials.
  • Ceramics such as glass, silicon carbide, tungsten carbide.

Detection Limits and Quantificiation Ranges

Measurement ranges:

  • Carbon is 4ppm to 3.5wt%.
  • Sulphur is 4ppm to 0.4wt%.
  • Precision Carbon: 2ppm or 0.5% RSD, whichever is greater.
  • Precision Sulphur: 2ppm or 1.5% RSD, whichever is greater.

LECO Instrument Operation

A pre-weighed sample of ~1gm is combusted in a stream of purified oxygen. The carbon in the sample is oxidised primarily to carbon dioxide with some carbon monoxide possibly being produced. The sulphur is oxidised to sulphur dioxide. These gases are swept, along with oxygen through a dust filter and drying reagent into an infrared cell (IR) where sulphur is detected as SO2. The gases are then routed through a heated catalyst which converts CO to CO2 and SO2 to sulphur trioxide SO3. The SO3 is removed by a filter and CO2 is measured in a separate IR cell.

Carbon dioxide and sulphur dioxide absorb infrared energy at precise wavelengths within the IR spectrum. Energy at these wavelengths is absorbed as the gases pass through respective IR absorption cells. Changes in energy are then observed at the detectors. The absorption of IR energy is attributed to only CO2 and SO2 depending upon the cell, and its concentration is then determined. Each IR cell serves as both a reference and measure chamber.