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Method and apparatus for measuring characteristics of surface layer of metallurgical product in flow line

IPC classes for russian patent Method and apparatus for measuring characteristics of surface layer of metallurgical product in flow line (RU 2316756):

G01N21/55 - Specular reflectivity

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FIELD: processes and devices for measuring characteristics of surface layer of metallurgical product, for example of electroplated coating of steel strips.

SUBSTANCE: method comprises steps of irradiating product by means of irradiation 23 with predetermined wave length from irradiation source 24; directing irradiation normally relative to product surface and measuring energy of irradiation reflected from it in normal direction in order to eliminate changes of reflection coefficient caused by morphology characteristics of said surface. Such operations are performed by means of optical fibers whose ends are preliminarily freed from general focusing optics in order to place them mutually in parallel and close one to other as much as possible.

EFFECT: possibility for producing uniform-quality reproducible products.

10 cl, 4 dwg

The invention relates to the characterization of the surface layer steel products, in particular to their flow measurement when applying the product during its manufacture. In particular, the invention relates to the characterization of electroplating steel strip, known under the trade name of "leaves GALVALLIA®".

Recall here that these sheets are galvanized strips, which are subjected to a heat treatment called "mixing", the purpose of which is to give these bands improved surface characteristics, for example, providing better adhesion of paint or facilitate the stamping.

This heat treatment galvanized strip is performed in the column mixing during the continuous supply of galvanized bands. The aim of treatment is to ensure the diffusion of iron from the lower layer toward the surface, in order to achieve the objectives mentioned above. As a rule, the percentage dilution (% concentration of iron relative to zinc) is approximately 10%.

Currently, however, the desired level of mixing, that is, the relative degree of the above-mentioned diffusion, varies greatly from one customer of the bands to the other, and therefore at the time of manufacture, it is important to have the possibility of continuous monitoring of the level of this diffusion. The trail is therefore to meet the requirements of customers using the mentioned strip with the coating, it is necessary during their manufacture adjustable to change the installation settings, which performs a heat treatment, that is, mainly the temperature and time of thermal treatment.

Known methods of control surfaces of metal products by sending them focused beam of light and measuring the intensity of reflected light (see, for example, U.S. patent No. 3827963). However, currently there are no systems capable of real-time operating equipment to control whether the surface of the leaves GALVALLIA® the required specifications. Actually, it is known that diffusion causes significant changes of physico-chemical and microgeometric surface properties. Currently, the level of diffusion is determined only in the laboratory by measuring the separation of the powder, the iron content or by metallographic analysis, allowing to characterize the crystals on the surface.

In addition, to obtain more accurate estimates of surface diffusion during the measurement, it is also necessary to overcome the effect of morphological changes, such as mikroheranhvatho or equivalent geometric characteristics, to ensure the feeling is italmost only to physical and chemical changes of the surface. These physico-chemical changes of the upper layer surface actually reflect the migration of the iron atoms through the floor, and this migration corresponds to the level of diffusion for the product.

When these checks are carried out by the end of production, the strips may have defects, such as, for example, separation of powder or separation of the coating due to excessive levels of diffusion.

The aim of the present invention is mainly addressing these issues and ensuring continuous monitoring of the levels of diffusion to surfaces, in order to ensure uniform and reproducible product and manage column mixing. In particular, the aim is to limit the occurrence of defects on the above-mentioned bands, such as the Department of powder or branch coverage, and ensuring uniform and reproducible products, mainly by eliminating or at least reducing transitional zones with insufficient or excessive diffusion, i.e. areas where the rate of diffusion varies due to the random variation of the process parameters, which control is not fast enough. In General, the aim of the invention is the provision of a flow of determining the surface characteristics of the coating strip, changing together with the physico-chemical ha what acteristically this coverage.

Given these problems, the object of the invention is a method of measuring the characteristics of the surface layer steel products, in particular, the method of flow measurement in process of filing the product during its manufacture, whereby the area of the surface light incident radiation directed orthogonal to this surface, and then measure, also in the direction orthogonal to the surface, the energy of the radiation reflected from the illuminated area and the specified area light through the illuminating optical fiber connected to the source of incident radiation with a given wavelength, and the reflected radiation is measured by the measuring optical fiber connected to the sensor, when this free ends of the two optical fibers exposed and held in close proximity to each other and parallel to each other.

Therefore, the invention uses the fact that changes in surface properties caused by changes in the physico-chemical characteristics of the coating, lead to changes in the reflective properties of the surface. In addition, the scheme of measurements, in which the illumination and observation of the reflected radiation are orthogonal surface which provides sensitivity only to physico-chemical changes on top of the spine, when suppressing the influence of morphological changes. Therefore, the results expected from the proposed method and device for measurement will be achieved only if the orthogonality is not broken, and if the end parts of the two respective optical fibers, the fibers of the input radiation and the fiber of the reflected signal are very close to each other relative to the surface of the product. In accordance with the invention this is achieved using standard optical fibers, loose ends are pre-exposed, that is, they removed the usual bulky optical focusing elements, and left only the bare fiber.

The free ends of two optical fibers can then be maintained in the immediate vicinity of a surface, typically, for example, at a distance of about 10-50 mm away and parallel to each other. This makes unnecessary the use of any other optical focusing device and at the same time, thanks to the small cross section of the used optical fibers (typically, about 0.1 mm) and the fact that fiber can be located close to each other (the maximum distance between their axes is also about 0.1 mm), provides the ability to measure almost exactly in the illuminated zone and the orientation of the normal to the surface, as for lighting, and DL is the dimension what will be described in more detail below.

In the application for which it is mainly intended invention and which is to measure the rate of diffusion for coating GALVALLIA®the higher the reflected stream, the lower the rate of diffusion, as the zinc coating provides higher reflectivity than iron.

Information obtained in real time when this measurement can then be used as a parameter to control the column mixing, and can be used for quality control to guarantee customers the diffusion parameters for the entire supply roll.

In the preferred case of using radiation in the middle infrared range, more specifically with a wavelength of about 830 nm. Indeed, after tests conducted by the authors, this range of radiation was found optimal to ensure the sensitivity of the measurement, taking into account, inter alia, the currently used radiation sources, such as, for example, a laser diode operating at this wavelength.

According to an additional preferred feature, the reflected radiation is measured in one or more directions inclined to the surface, for example, at an angle from 0 to 30° to the normal to the surface, which allows to evaluate the energy dissipation e is th surface, and to get more information about the level of diffusion or other surface characteristics, such as, for example, microgeometrical characteristics that may be correlated with the results of measurement of the reflection at right angles, to give additional information about the General characteristics of the coating.

The measurement of the reflected radiation in one or more directions, orthogonal surface itself provides an estimate of the level of diffusion, because regardless of morphological characteristics, such as mikroheranhvatho or the like, there is a relationship between scattering for some angles of reflection, and diffusion: the higher the level of diffusion, the more dispersed is the reflected radiation. Thus, only one comparison of the intensity of the reflected radiation in a direction inclined relative to the surface, and the intensity of the light reflected perpendicular to this surface, allows to estimate the degree of diffusion, as will be shown below.

The subject of the invention is also a device for implementing the method described above, which contains the measuring head with the front surface intended to be installed across the test surface, and containing the illuminating optical fiber and measuring the optical fiber, each of these two optical fibers on the front surface of the head is free exposed end and the corresponding end portion of the fibers are parallel and as close together as possible, while the other end of the illuminating optical fiber is connected with a source of light radiation, and the other end of the measuring optical fiber connected to the sensor, and the specified device also includes means for processing the signal delivered by the sensor to determine the intensity of radiation, which is served in a sensor for measuring optical fiber.

According to other preferred forms of the invention, the:

the device includes a proximity sensor for continuous monitoring or measuring the distance between the ends of the optical fibers and the surface of the product,

measuring head contains at least one connected to a separate sensor additional optical fiber, the end part of which is inclined relative to the end portion of the illuminating optical fiber. Orientation different fibers will be installed so that their directions converge on the same area of a surface which is illuminated with the illuminating fiber,

the radiation source is a laser diode with a wavelength of izlucheniya 830 nm.

The invention will be better understood from the following description relating to continuous level measurement of diffusion of iron sheet type GALVALLIA®with reference to the attached drawings, on which:

Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of the measurement.

Figure 2 shows a schematic view of the device.

Figure 3 shows a cross-section of the measuring head.

Figure 4 shows a graph illustrating the results of a number of measurements on the sheet rolls GALVALLIA^®with different levels of diffusion.

The diagram in figure 1 shows the moving steel strip, where area 11 of its surface 1 is illuminated with infrared radiation 23 from the end 21 of the illuminating optical fiber 2 is held perpendicular to the strip surface. The end 31 of the second optical fiber 3 that is parallel to the illuminating fiber 2 is located in the immediate vicinity, is located on the same level as the end of the first fiber, and detects reflected radiation 33 filed illuminating optical fiber and reflected by the band.

In fact, due to the unavoidable minimum distance between the axes of the two fibers, even if it is reduced to a minimum by pre-Stripping of the free end of each fiber, the surface zone 12, which "sees" the measurement optical fiber 3, is not exactly the same as the that's what we area 11, but due to the fact that this distance is very small, and taking into account the natural formation of the ends of the fibers of the cone 23 scattering, there is a relatively large area 13 overlap of the illuminated zone and the surveillance zone, allowing to compare the radiation captured by the measuring fiber 3, with the full radiation supplied to the illuminating fiber 2 and is reflected perpendicular to the surface 1.

Figure 1 also shows the preferred third optical fiber 4, the end 41 which declined by about 30° from the vertical and relative to the first two fibers, and the observation area of this fiber more or less coincides with the area of monitoring and measuring fiber 3.

Figure 2 shows an example implementation of the device in the form of a housing 5 containing the measuring head 51 and two non-contact sensor 52 a distance of a known type, located at a certain wall 53 of the casing that will be placed at a distance of several tens of millimeters from the surface of the inspected strip.

The measuring cylinder 51, the cross-section of which is shown in figure 3, has a body 54 has a cylindrical shape, the front wall 55 which is made a few holes 61-64, designed to accommodate all of the various optical fiber system. The first of these holes, the hole 61 made is perpendicular to the outer surface of the front wall 55 and has the following form, to simultaneously accommodate the illuminating optical fiber 2 and the measuring fiber 3. Three other holes 62, 63, 64 is oriented at increasing angles relative to the direction of the first hole, i.e. for example at angles of 10°, 20° and 30°and their directions agree with each of them accommodates the end of the additional optical fiber, respectively 41, 42, 43.

As shown in figure 2, all of the fibers 2, 3, 41, 42, 43 are grouped into one harness 56 that extends from the housing 5. Illuminating the optical fiber 2 is connected with a source of infrared radiation such as a laser diode 24, and the other fiber 3, 41, 42, 43 are connected, respectively, with the sensors 34, 44 of known type for measuring the intensity of the reflected radiation signals from the sensors are processed by the block 57 processing.

On the graph shown in figure 4, shows the results of measurements made by the above-described devices on the strip, supplied according to the invention. In fact, the example shows the results of measurements obtained during the transmission 10 rolls of strip, designated as b1-b10, with different percentages of diffusion.

The first two rolls, b1 and b2 are the percentage of diffusion of about 10% and the separation of the powder, measured at standard test conditions, 3-4 g/m²(the weight of the powder was separated from the band in terms of what spitoni).

Rolls b3-b6 are the percentage of diffusion 12% and the separation of powder 5-6 g/m². Rolls b7-b9 are the percentage of diffusion 11% and separation of the powder 4 g/m². Roll b10 has a percentage of diffusion 13% and separation of the powder 7 g/m².

The two curves correspond to the intensity of the reflected radiation from the time dimension, i.e. the length of the sheet strip is fed through a thermal oven. The upper curve T1 in the graph represents the intensity of radiation received measurement optical fiber 3, and the lower curve T2 represents the intensity of the radiation received by the optical fiber 43, which passes through a hole 64 at an angle of 30°.

You can see that the lower the rate of diffusion (rolls 1 and 2), the higher the intensity of the reflected signal, which indeed corresponds to the high reflectance due to the low fraction of iron in the zinc coating, and, on the contrary, if the degree of diffusion is high (roll 10), the intensity of the reflected radiation below that illustrates the loss of reflectivity due to the higher iron content on the surface.

You also notice that the difference between the curves T1 and T2 is clearly larger for the coils b1 and b2 or b7-b9, than for the rolls b3-b6 and b10, which also illustrates the fact that the scattering of the reflected radiation is higher for low levels of diffusion, when the number of iron on the surface below.

The invention is not limited to the above-described examples of the device, the measuring head or the method. In particular, an infrared laser diode can be replaced by other sources of radiation with wavelengths that are appropriate for the surface. Other products, in addition to sheets GALVALLIA®can also be checked in a similar way; and the signals from the various sensors connected to optical fibers with different slopes can be analyzed to obtain other information, in particular concerning the morphological characteristics of the surface.

1. A method of measuring the characteristics of the surface layer (1) metallurgical products, in particular, to provide a flow measurement in the process of applying the specified product during its manufacture, according to which zone (13) the surface coverage of the incident radiation (23), directed orthogonal to this surface, and then measure, also in the direction orthogonal to the surface, the energy of the radiation reflected from the illuminated area (13), with the indicated zone (13) light through the illuminating optical fiber (2), connected to a source (24) of the incident radiation with a given wavelength and reflected radiation measured by the measuring optical fiber (3)connected to the sensor (34), while St. the free ends (21, 31) these two optical fibers (2, 3) bare and held in close proximity to each other and parallel to each other.

2. The method according to claim 1, whereby the exposed free ends (21, 31) of optical fibers (2, 3) hold at a distance of from 5 to 50 mm from the surface (1) of the product.

3. The method according to claim 1, according to which use radiation in the middle infrared range, preferably with a wavelength of 830 nm.

4. The method according to claim 1, whereby the reflected radiation is measured in one or more directions inclined to the surface (1) products, in order to evaluate the energy dissipated mentioned lighted area (13).

5. The method according to claim 4, whereby the angle or angles at which carry out the above-mentioned measurement range from 0 to 30° vertically to the surface (1).

6. Device for measuring characteristics of the surface layer steel products, in particular for routine measurements in the submission process a specified product during its manufacture, the said device comprises a measuring head (51)having a front surface (55)designed to accommodate the opposite surface (1) products, and includes illuminating optical fiber (2) and the measuring optical fiber (3), the free exposed end (21, 31) of each of the two optical the fiber is located on the front surface (55) of the head (51), and the corresponding end part of the above mentioned fibers are parallel and as close together as possible, while the other end of the illuminating optical fiber (2) is connected to a source (24) of the light radiation, and the other end of the measuring optical fiber (3) is connected with a sensor (34); and the above-mentioned device also contains means (57) signal processing, submitted the said sensor (34)to determine the intensity of radiation, which is served at this sensor for the measurement of the optical fiber (3).

7. The device according to claim 6, which contains the sensor (52) distances for continuous monitoring or measuring the distance between free bare ends (21, 31) of optical fibers and the surface (1) of the product.

8. The device according to claim 6, in which the measuring head (51) includes United with separate sensor (44) additional optical fiber (4), the free end part (41) which is oriented obliquely relative to the free end portion (21) of the illuminating optical fiber (2).

9. The device according to claim 6, in which a source (24) radiation is a laser diode with a wavelength of about 830 nm.

10. A method of measuring the characteristics of the surface layer of the moving steel strip, whereby the surface area of the specified steel strip light incident radiation 23), directed orthogonal to this surface, and then measure, also in the direction orthogonal to the surface, the energy of the radiation reflected from the illuminated area (13), with the indicated zone (13) light through the illuminating optical fiber (2), connected to a source (24) of the incident radiation with a given wavelength, and the reflected radiation is measured by the measuring optical fiber (3)connected to the sensor (34), with the free ends (21, 31) of these two optical fibers (2, 3) bare and held in close proximity to each other and parallel to each other.