Chemical analysis and material identification

What exactly is in your metal?

A material certificate is missing. A part is incorrectly marked. You doubt the delivered alloy. Your customer requests an independent quality check. Or you simply have an unknown metal part in hand.

Metal Spark determines the chemical composition of your metal and helps you identify the material.

Our primary laboratory technique for this is Spark-OES (Spark Optical Emission Spectrometry).

What can we determine for you?

Chemical Composition:
We determine the present elements and their concentrations according to the applicable test method and matrix. You receive a clear analysis report showing the measured composition.

Material Identification:
Based on the chemical composition, we can assess which material grade or alloy the sample corresponds to.

Material Verification:
Want to check if delivered material truly matches the specified material quality? We can independently verify the material composition.

Material Certificate Verification:
Do you have a material certificate but want to check the delivered materials? We can compare the measured chemical composition with the provided data.

Carbon Equivalent / CEV:
For suitable steel grades, we can determine the Carbon Equivalent based on the measured chemical composition. This can be used as part of evaluating weldability.

Which metals do we analyze?

Metal Spark can investigate a wide range of metal matrices, including:

• Iron base: Steel, carbon steel, low- and high-alloy steel, stainless steel, tool steel, manganese steel, cast iron

• Aluminum base: Aluminum, aluminum alloys

• Copper base: Copper, brass, bronze, gunmetal

• Nickel base: Nickel, nickel alloys

• Titanium base: Titanium, titanium alloys

• Cobalt base: Cobalt, cobalt alloys

• Zinc: Zinc and suitable zinc alloys

Due to the extremely extensive element configuration of our Spark-OES device, we can measure virtually all elements in these matrices.

Which questions can we answer?

• "Is this really Stainless Steel 316?"

• "What steel grade is this?"

• "Are these coins made of high-quality silver or copper?"

• "Is this part made of the same material as the previous one?"

• "Does the material match the certificate?"

• "Can this steel be welded?"

• "Which alloy is this unknown casting?"

• "Why does this material deviate from our specification?"

• "Can you analyze my unusual shape?"

Difficult samples and matrices are also welcome

We can measure wires, sheets, tubes, fittings, bars, cylinders, castings, machine parts, small parts, very thin material, heavy components, etc.

We have equipment for sample preparation and special adapters available.

If in doubt, please send us a photo of your part.

Reporting within 24 hours

Our main asset is speed.

You don't have to wait weeks for a metallurgical analysis report. We strive for reporting within 24 hours according to agreed analysis conditions.