New approach for FIB-preparation of atom probe specimens for aluminum alloys
File(s)
Author(s)
Lilensten, L
Gault, B
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Site-specific atom probe tomography (APT) from aluminum alloys has been limited by sample preparation issues. Indeed, Ga, which is conventionally used in focused-ion beam (FIB) preparations, has a high affinity for Al grain boundaries and causes their embrittlement. This leads to high concentrations of Ga at grain boundaries after specimen preparation, unreliable compositional analyses and low specimen yield. Here, to tackle this problem, we propose to use cryo-FIB for APT specimen preparation specifically from grain boundaries in a commercial Al-alloy. We demonstrate how this setup, easily implementable on conventional Ga-FIB instruments, is efficient to prevent Ga diffusion to grain boundaries. Specimens were prepared at room temperature and at cryogenic temperature (below approx. 90K) are compared, and we confirm that at room temperature, a compositional enrichment above 15 at.% of Ga is found at the grain boundary, whereas no enrichment could be detected for the cryo-prepared sample. We propose that this is due to the decrease of the diffusion rate of Ga at low temperature. The present results could have a high impact on the understanding of aluminum and Al-alloys.
Date Issued
2020-04-02
Date Acceptance
2020-03-17
Citation
PLoS One, 2020, 15 (4), pp.1-9
ISSN
1932-6203
Publisher
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Start Page
1
End Page
9
Journal / Book Title
PLoS One
Volume
15
Issue
4
Copyright Statement
Copyright: © 2020 Lilensten, Gault. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
License URL
Identifier
https://www.webofscience.com/api/gateway?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000535945000102&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=a2bf6146997ec60c407a63945d4e92bb
Subjects
AL
EMBRITTLEMENT
GRAIN-BOUNDARIES
Multidisciplinary Sciences
PENETRATION
SCALE ANALYSIS
Science & Technology
Science & Technology - Other Topics
SEGREGATION
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
e0231179
Date Publish Online
2020-04-02