A concomitant use of some radioanalytical and metallurgical methods: Application to the study of the thermal oxidation of titanium

Polycrystalline titanium samples were oxidized in pure oxygen under a 75 torr pressure, at temperatures ranging from 400°C to 500°C, and for times up to 2 hrs. A similar treatment was applied to some single crystal samples, so as to show the relationship between the crystallite orientation and the oxidation rate. The oxide films were studied by means of radioanalytical techniques, such as nuclear microanalysis, electron diffraction and ESCA, in addition to most classical techniques such as optical and electron microscopy. The complementary side of these methods is showed. They permit us to determine the contamination of the metallic surface introduced by the polishing treatments, the oxidation rate at constant temperature, and the structure of the oxides which exists in the films. These ones are especially TiO₂, Ti₃O₅, Ti₂O₃ and TiO.