Handheld XRF and LIBS metal analysers

XRF and LIBS

The handheld analyser has changed scrap sorting more than any other tool of the last twenty years. A ten-second test tells a yard whether a piece is 304 or 316, 6063 or 6061, red brass or yellow — and settles disputes at the gate.

X-ray fluorescence (XRF) guns fire X-rays at the surface and read the characteristic energies the metal emits, giving the percentages of the heavier elements — nickel, chromium, molybdenum, copper, zinc, lead, tin — in seconds. They identify stainless grades, nickel alloys, brasses, bronzes and most aluminium alloys. Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) guns vaporise a tiny spot with a laser and read the light; they are faster and read light elements such as magnesium, silicon and lithium, which makes them the tool for sorting aluminium alloys and for carbon in steel.

Both are carried in the hand, run on batteries and store every reading. Many yards use both: XRF for the heavy alloys and brasses, LIBS for aluminium.

Where they are used

At the scale, to grade incoming stainless, nickel alloy and brass; on the sorting line, to separate alloy families; at the furnace, to check the charge; and at the port, by surveyors certifying export lots. Stationary sensor sorters (see our sorting page) do the same job automatically at high throughput.

Who makes them

A handful of analytical-instrument makers in the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany supply the trade; the names below are the established lines. Prices have fallen as the instruments have spread, and used analysers are common.

Makers

Long-established makers of this class of machine. Names first; the buttons go deeper.

At a glance

• XRF for heavy elements, LIBS for light elements
• Ten-second alloy identification
• Scale, sorting line, furnace, port
• Stainless, nickel alloys, brass, aluminium

Other machinery and related grades