Spatial distribution of tramp element contents in recycled steel

Abstract

In this research, we analyzed electric furnace steel using the laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) method with the objective of quantitatively evaluating the concentration distributions of tramp elements present in microdomains. Point analysis was carried out for nine microdomain locations (defined as Areas) measuring 500 μm (length) × 600 μm (width) for the elements Cu, Sn, Ni, Mn, W, Cr, Mo, Ag, Pb, and B. The highest concentration of Cu found in Area 4 was 4 936 ppm, while the lowest was 674 ppm in Area 5. The correlations between Cu concentration and concentrations of other elements were analyzed for all measured points. Mo, W, Mn, Sn had correlation coefficients of more than 0.65, while Pb, Ag, Ni, B, Cr had correlation coefficients of - 0.15 to +0.22. Furthermore, concentration distributions for the four elements with high correlations were analyzed for regions where the Cu concentration was more than 1.5- times the bulk concentration (5 490 ppm).