“The application of emerging fiber optic-based sensor technology holds great promise to further the advancement of the steel manufacturing process,” Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T) professor and AIST past president Ron O’Malley said, speaking during the opening session at AISTech 2023. 

O’Malley, director of Missouri S&T’s Kent D. Peaslee Steel Manufacturing Research Center, delivered the Howe Memorial Lecture, kicking off the annual technical conference and exposition. 

The lecture marked the 100th anniversary of the lecture award’s founding.

O’Malley told attendees that optical fiber sensors have practical application in measuring temperature, strain, position, and chemistry. And, he said,  they are ideal for the steelmaking environment because they are small, lightweight, immune to electromagnetic interference, and, in many cases, can withstand high temperatures.  

Such systems are commercially available now, he said, but one aspect of recent research has been to take off-the-shelf optical fiber and apply it to steelmaking measurements that otherwise are difficult, if not expensive, to obtain. 

O’Malley said he and his team have been testing the technology relative to a variety of scenarios. 

One example, he said, has been to monitor temperatures in refractory linings. Another example has been to connect a line to a submerged-entry nozzle, allowing for measurement of steel height in the mold, he said. 

“I think there is quite a bit of room to (apply the technology),” he said.