Calibration transfer method for the quantitative analysis of high-temperature materials with stand-off laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy

This work reports on the capabilities of stand-off LIBS to perform quantitative analysis in materials at high temperature. Long distance analysis is essential to avoid risk for the operator and the instrument. Characterization of the ablation regime at high sample temperature has been carried out by determining the average ablation rate and the plasma electron temperature and electron density. Boundary conditions for the applicability of the method are reported and its suitability is demonstrated for the quantitative analysis of Cr, Ni and Mn in stainless steel samples at 1000 °C. An analytical method to transfer results from hot samples to a room temperature calibration was developed. This method avoids the need to perform a calibration procedure at high temperature and is based on a linear transformation of the high-temperature results to their low-temperature counterparts.