Oxygen probe at Osaka refinery
Abstract A low-cost oxygen probe with high performance is now employed for continuous casting of copper rods and shapes at Osaka Refinery, Mitsubishi Metal Corporation, after many years of development effort. This improved probe has a service life extending over many hours, thus greatly contributing to the quality control of the continuous casting process. The oxygen probe consists basically of a CaO-stabilized ZrO 2 tube encased in a 310S stainless tube, with fine Fe powder as reference electrode. Due to its simplicity of structure, the probe is characterized by low material and assembling costs and by easy handling. The application of this probe to a more complicated process is now being considered and it is expected to prove extremely effective for operation controls in other fields.