Laboratory technology checking Olympic bobsleigh participants

A Laboratory developed technology is at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah, helping to ensure that bobsleigh runners meet specifications mandated by Olympic competition rules.

Dave Cremers, Monty Ferris and James Busse of Advanced Chemical Diagnostics and Instrumentation (C-ADI) are at the Olympics with their Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy technology as part of an international materials team to help certify the metallic makeup of the runners -- the “legs” of the bobsleigh that are in contact with the ice. LIBS is a technique that uses a laser generated plasma to analyze metal to determine composition.

Using LIBS, the team evaluates the bobsleigh runners for uniformity of metal composition. Bobsleigh runners’ metallic composition must be homogenous throughout the runner according to Olympic specifications.

To verify the metal in the runners is the same composition throughout, the LIBS team analyzes them in three places. A small area of material is ground from the top of the runner and used to obtain a spectral signature of its metallic makeup. This signature is then compared to the spectral signatures from the side and bottom to determine if the runner material is homogenous.

If the signatures differ, it could indicate that a coating was applied to the runner or the surface composition of the metal was changed in some way. Applying a coating, a deicer or altering the composition changes the friction between the runner and the ice, all of which are not allowed at the Olympics.

One of the teams competing in the bobsleigh race at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Park City, Utah. The black "legs" underneath the red sled are the runners being analyzed by Laboratory scientists. Photos courtesy of Advanced Chemical Diagnostics and Instrumentation (C-ADI)

LIBS technology has been under development at the Lab for more than 20 years. Current projects include development of a field deployable analyzer to determine carbon in soil for use in terrestrial carbon sequestration programs and development for future use on board landers and rovers to Mars for remote analysis of rocks and soil.

“Some competitors invest a large amount of money and time into developing the “perfect” bobsleigh runner material that has the lowest coefficient of friction possible and still meets Olympic specifications,” said Cremers. “After analyzing the runners with LIBS we destroyed the analysis data because bobsledders didn’t want anyone getting a hold of the analysis and latching on to their materials technology.”

The LIBS team arrived in Salt Lake City on Feb. 11 and began testing bobsleigh runners on Feb. 13. The first day the team analyzed 30 runners from the top seven countries entered in the bobsleigh competition. Each runner evaluation took about two minutes. The team will continue analyzing the bobsleigh runners through the conclusion of the Olympics on Sunday. The LIBS team also is analyzing the runners used in the skeleton competition, another Olympic event.

“It was kind of unusual how we got involved with the materials team at the Olympics,” said Cremers. “About four or five months ago I got a call from a gentleman at a company that puts coatings on metals who posed the problem to me of analyzing the runners. He asked if I worked with LIBS and if it would be able to analyze bobsleigh runners. I told him I thought that was possible.

“Well, I didn’t hear anything for a few more months and then I got a call from a professor at the University of Utah who asked similar questions,” Cremers continued. “Based on these discussions, a few weeks later a representative of the International Federation of Bobsleigh and Tobogganing contacted us and indicated they would like us to be part of the materials team.”

The instrumentation technology adapted for use in the LIBS analyzer at the 2002 Olympics was developed at the Laboratory as part of the Terrestrial Carbon Sequestration program funded by the National Energy Technology Laboratory and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, according to Cremers.

In appreciation of their work, the Lab team was invited to Sunday's closing ceremonies.

--Shelley Thompson

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