Analysis of composition and growth mechanisms of oxide scales on high temperature alloys by SNMS,SIMS, and RBS

Composition and growth phenomena of alumina scales on a conventional wrought alloy Fe-20Cr-5Al and an yttria containing ODS alloy with the same base composition were investigated. The alloys were oxidized in a twostage oxidation process at 1000 °C in air and air containing¹⁸O-tracer. By using secondary neutrals and secondary ion mass spectrometry in combination with RBS, the in-depth concentration of main and minor alloying elements as well as the oxygen isotope distribution in the alumina scale could be determined. It is shown, that the difficulties in deriving the exact growth processes of the scales from the oxygen tracer profiles can be overcome by using the time dependance of the iron and chromium distribution in the alumina. From these results it could be derived that growth of the oxide scales formed on the ODS and the conventional alloy mainly differ in the relative contribution of aluminium diffusion. The mechanisms which lead to these differences in scale growth phenomena will be discussed.