Improving the making of steel and other primary by using sensors based on nuclear particle accelerators

摘要

Although sensor techniques using radioisotope radiation sources have long been used in industry for simple applications, such as thickness sensors in sheet materials or as level sensors, recent developments in compact accelerator-based radiation sources as well as in radiation detectors have led to the development of real-time, non-invasive sensors with capabilities beyond that of conventional measuring methods. We will describe two new sensors: the first being a solidification sensor for the metal casting industry which measures in three-dimensions the liquid/solid interface in continuous casting of steel and other metals, and the second being a sensor for real-time analysis of hearth wall integrity in blast furnaces to measure both erosion of carbon thickness and to detect the formation of cracks in the bricks. The prototype of the solidification sensor is based on the use of a compact 6 MeV electron linac and produces tomographic images in real-time of the solidification process in molten aluminum. The blast furnace wall monitor has been modeled and components of the system are currently being designed using the 6 MeV linac as well as a 14 MeV neutron source.