Measurement of segregation to grain boundaries in ferritic steel using Auger electron spectroscopy

This paper describes an investigation to measure phosphorus, tin and nickel concentrations at a number of equivalent grain boundary surfaces on corresponding fracture faces for a 3.5 wt.% nickel–ferritic steel specimen using Auger electron spectroscopy (AES). Multivariate statistical analyses of the data have been adopted to determine the significance of measurements undertaken on a single fracture surface compared with data combined from corresponding grains from integral grain boundaries within the polycrystal. The results are discussed with respect to the observed correlations between the key parameters and previously published data on similar materials. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.