Chemical Analysis

The properties of any material depend first and foremost on its chemical composition. Our Positive Material Identification (PMI) services help you make sure base materials are suitable for their intended purpose. PMI measurements are non-destructive and mainly done on site with mobile equipment, for example during maintenance of existing structures or on newly built structures to guarantee every part has an acceptable chemical composition. 

Our chemical laboratory uses two PMI methods:

1. Optical Emission Spectrometry (OES) which is used for analysing ferrous and non-ferrous metals such as aluminium-, nickel- and copper-based alloys. The advantage of OES is that the amount of carbon can be determined. This makes it possible to determine the carbon equivalent (CEV) in low alloy steels and to distinguish L-grade stainless steels (like SS316L) from regular grades (like SS316).
       
2. X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) which is mainly used for high-alloy steels such as stainless steel, nickel and copper alloys. The XRF equipment uses a battery for power supply, is very mobile and fast and therefore suitable to measure large objects or structures in the field.

The chemical composition can also be determined with stationary OES equipment. Stationary OES can be preferable above mobile equipment due to its performance characteristics but needs to be carried out in house on small test specimens.