Fast, Contactless Monitoring of the Chemical Composition of Raw Materials Contactless Monitoring of Chemical Composition

A technique to monitor chemical composition of materials during manufacturing of ceramic products, in particular - of bricks, is investigated. The technique of monitoring is likely to offset environmental pollution and save energy. For this purpose, we use the Surface photo charge effect, which is generated for each solid body interacting with electromagnetic field. The measurement is express and can be performed in-situ in production conditions. The experimental work has shown that different samples of the investigated materials with different compositions produce different signals specific to each sample. For the same material, the signal varies with the change in chemical composition. More specifically, it is shown that for the material from which the bricks are fired, the signal is a function of the percentage of coal sludge. The results indicate that the characterization technique as a viable technique for control of incoming raw materials.