An Ion Microprobe Mass Analyzer and its Application to Iron and Steel Research

Abstract

The application of an ion microprobe mass analysis to the study of iron and steel making processes was examined with Hitachi model IMA-2 ion microanalyzer (IMA) equipped with specific devices designed so as to meet the recent requirements in steel research: devices for sample heating, line analysis, step scanning and brittle fracture at low temperature together with photographic systems for the images by use of secondary ion, total ion, and secondary electron. Several examples of the application of ion microprobe mass analyzer to the study of iron and steel making processes are discussed with respect to the analysis of trace elements particularly at the surfaces fractured by hydrogen blistering and the grain boundary segregation. Ion microprobe mass analysis is expected to provide the more useful information which have never been known to date in the field of material science.