Grain-Boundary Structure and Segregation

Abstract

The grain-boundary embrittlement of metals by impurities has been and continues to be a major problem. However, despite its importance, little is known about the specific impurities responsible for embrittlement, the driving force responsible for segregation, or the mechanism by which the segregated impurities render the material brittle. With the advent of new analytical techniques, it has become possible to determine the chemistry of fracture surfaces and one of the techniques that has proved of considerable value is Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES).