HIS REPORT reviews the advances in T ferrous metallurgical analysis from October 1964 to December 1966. As in the past (58), it draws extensively from abstracts and is not intended to be a complete compilation of the papers published in the field.The increased use of fast steelmaking, processes, vacuum deoxidation, and continuous casting techniques has greatly influenced the need for rapid and automated ferrous nietallurgical analytical methods (14). In addition, stringent requirements on steel composition by steel users have forced the analytical chemist to search not only for rapid, but also for more accurate analytical methods. The majority of methods found in the literature still involve modifications of well established techniques and procedures rather than the introduction of new approaches.Greatest progress was made in the application of atomic absorption spectrometry (502) and neutron activation techniques (335, 557) to the routine analysis of iron, iron ores, slags, and steels, and in the automation and computerization (166) of chemical and instrumental methods.Present steel sampling and sample preparation techniques are generally too sloiv and inadequate for control of the new steelmaking processes and thus present the most apparent restriction to the rapid analytical methods. The realization of this problem was indicated by the relatively large number of papers published on sampling (95,428, 429,480, 605, 51 1 , 520) and on attempts for the direct analysis of molten steel (32,Emission and x-ray spectrometric, atomic absorption spectrophotometric, and other instrumental techniques with various degrees of automation became the most important means for better process and quality control. Chemical routine methods, even the automated ones, decreased in importance except in the field of nonmetallic inclusion isolation where there is a new renaissance in the use of chemical approaches (10,293,381).Schemes were given for the analyses of cast iron (484) and slags (288,417).Differential spectrophotometry (522) , electrochemical methods (380), atomic absorption spectrophotometry (502), gases in metals analysis (42, 214,242,265,364), and standard deviation of methods (132) in connection with steel analysis were reviewed. 158-161, 344, 366, 567). ALUMINUM Volumetric aluminum procedures involved variations of EDTA (156, 257, 331), bromatometric (440), and potentiometric (134) titrations. Xodifications of the 8-hydroxyquinoline (81 , I l Z ) , aluminon (120, 448, 487), eriochrome cyanin R (220, 22$), solochrome cyanine (411)) chrome azurol S (69, 77, 4 Z l ) , and alizarin red S calcium (106) spectrophotometric and of the 8-hydroxyquinoline spectrofluorometric (20300) methods were described. Most pro-cedures involved preliminary separations by mercury cathode (109, 200, +$do), solvent extraction (69, 212, 120, 200,309,411,448), precipitation (goo, 25'7), or ion exchange (509).
135,Aluminum was polarographically determined in stainless steel (4437, ferrotitanium (199)) and ferro-niobium (198). Neutron activation an...
