A year ago, the reveal of the ground-breaking Hitachi OE750 caused waves in the industry by making high-performance metals analysis finally accessible to all sizes of metals producers. Designed to help foundries, fabricators and manufacturing plants meet ever more demanding specifications, the new OE720 now joins Hitachi High-Tech’s new OE series. The OE720 boasts the same high-performance as the OE750 but offers an attractive price advantage to companies who don’t need additional gas analysis capability.
Complex supply chains and increased use of scrap metal as a base material puts foundries and metals manufacturers under increasing pressure to control tramp and trace elements within the melt and finished product. The new OE720 optical emission spectrometer covers the entire spectrum of elements in metal except for gases like oxygen and hydrogen and has some of the lowest detection limits in its class. The result is an analyser that has the capability of much more expensive instruments, bringing high quality analysis within reach for the first time for many foundries and metals manufacturers.
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The secret to the Hitachi OE series’ performance is its unique LightWing optic design*, coupled with superior CMOS detector technology. This unique combination achieves the very large wavelength range necessary to measure the entire range of elements within metals at ppm levels; essential in meeting today’s tight metals specifications.
The second advantage of the LightWing optics is reduced argon and power consumption, thanks to its ultra-compact design. As well as a fast start-up and measurement time, helping keep costs down and productivity high.
The OE720 is the ideal analyser for aluminium casting as it can determine phosphorous to very low limits in near eutectic and hypereutectic aluminium-silicon alloys. It can analyse antimony, bismuth, lithium, strontium and sodium, and tramp and trace elements, ensuring these can be controlled within the aluminium melt for optimal structural modification. This aids high throughput production, where the quality of the melt needs to be verified at several points.
In addition to innovative hardware technology, the new OE720’s performance is also enhanced by innovative new software. The intuitive SpArcfire operating software makes OES analysis quick and easy. The Hitachi GRADE Database, included in the OE720, offers more than 15 million records for over 340,000 materials from 74 countries and standards, reducing time and potential errors from manually consulting grade catalogues. Optional charge correction software automatically calculates the right quantity of material to add to a melt to bring it into spec. ExTOPE Connect wireless technology allows manufacturers to gather live data for real-time decision making even across multiple sites, lines, and production stages.
Michael Molderings, Hitachi OES Product Manager, said: “With the recent disruption to business and materials supply chains caused by Covid-19, quality control in metals manufacturing at all stages of the process is more important than ever. But with budgets under pressure, companies need to find affordable solutions. In the past, foundries and metal processing businesses had to choose between high performance analysis and instrumentation that was in their price range. The OE720 is our answer to customers who do not need to analyse the gases in metals but don´t want to compromise on the analytical performance. It offers comprehensive metals analysis in one accessible package.”
With a product designed for every stage, from incoming materials verification to production control, to end product inspection, the OE720 is the latest addition to Hitachi High-Tech’s extensive range of analytical equipment, designed to deliver effective quality control throughout the metals production process.
