Oxygen diffusion in grain boundaries: a ToF-SIMS investigation on hot-rolled steel sheets.

A study of grain boundary diffusion of oxygen in hot-rolled steel sheets is carried out by means of time-of-flight secondary-ion-mass-spectrometry (ToF-SIMS). This involves polishing of the sample surface prior to the oxygen exposure. A nickel layer deposited after exposure ensures a homogeneous extraction field for ToF-SIMS measurements at the Ni-steel interface. The sample is bevelled at an angle of 11.5° to spread up the diffusion pathway by a factor of 5. The oxygen distribution is then acquired via ToF-SIMS in imaging mode from which diffusion parameters are calculated according to the Whipple-Le Claire's approach.