As a measuring method for determining the chemical composition, GD-OES always reveals its strengths when it comes to reliably analyzing the material composition directly at production plants. However, integration into ongoing operations proved to be a major challenge at the end of the 1990s: Several months of intensive collaboration between production staff, developers and system manufacturers were necessary to get the highly complex system up and running to the complete satisfaction of everyone involved.
GD-OES: From Finnentrop into the world
In 2024, GD-OES technology will continue to be used in various thyssenkrupp Steel production facilities, including FBA 3 and FBA 10. "In the last quarter of a century, there has been a remarkable evolution in development technology within the system, transitioning from numerous manual processes to a fully automated method," says Thomas Brixius, developer and Senior Expert Surface Analysis and Laboratory Coordination at thyssenkrupp Steel. Not only has this increased the accuracy and reliability of the measurement results, the efficiency of optimization of production processes has also been boosted. Process automation in particular has eliminated many manual work processes, resulting in considerable time and cost savings.
GD-OES technology has gradually become widespread and established itself in production areas of industry: it is now used by many companies worldwide as a standard material analysis procedure. However, widespread use at thyssenkrupp Steel's production plants was only made possible by the development of proprietary software for operating and monitoring the GD-OES systems, which ensures simple and reliable operation by plant personnel. Ingenious developers are continuously refining the measurement technology in detail. Roger Hannig: "At thyssenkrupp Steel, we are continuously developing the technology to meet our needs. For example, new or modified products can be examined at the production facilities using GD-OES analysis and the trends can be monitored."
Innovativeness of the next generation
Just as measurement technology advances, the people who work with it also need to constantly improve their technical skills. In order to ensure a seamless transition between the generations of experts, the duo of Thomas Brixius and Roger Hannig, who were responsible for the introduction of GD-OES in Finnentrop, have now been joined by Juan Müller from the surface analysis department. "Juan Müller and our other young colleagues bring their specialist knowledge, expertise, and passion for innovation to the table, constantly enhancing our technology to meet our customers' needs," explains Thomas Brixius, who strongly links GD-OES to the future of thyssenkrupp Steel: "thyssenkrupp Steel's long-term competitiveness and success will be ensured by the key and undoubted role that measurement technology plays in optimizing our production processes."
