J. Phys. IV France 12 (2002) Pr8-277
DOI: 10.1051/jp4:20020340

Electron microscopy and Auger spectroscopy study of the wetting of the grain boundaries in the systems Mo-Pb, Mo-Sn, Mo-Ni and Ni-Pb

A. Charai¹, Kutcherinenko², J.-M. Pénisson³, V. Pontikis⁴, L. Priester², K. Wolski⁵ and T. Vystavel<sup>6

1</sup>  Laboratoire TECSEN, UMR 6122 du CNRS, Faculté des Sciences et Techniques de Saint-Jerôme, 13397 Marseille cedex 20, France
²  ISMA, Université Paris-Sud, 91405 Orsay cedex, France
³  DRFMC-SP2M, CEA/Grenoble, 17 rue des Martyrs, 38054 Grenoble cedex 9, France
⁴  CNRS, Centre d'Etudes de Chimie Métallurgique, 15 rue Georges Urbain, 94407 Vitry-sur-Seine cedex, France
⁵  Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Saint-Etienne, Centre SMS/MPI, URA 1884 du CNRS, 158 cours Fauriel, 42023 Saint-Etienne cedex 02, France
⁶  Institute of Physics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Na Slovance 2, 18221 Praha 8, Czech Republic

Abstract
Understanding the mechanism of the intergranular penetration of a liquid phase into a metallic solid is an important problem. The structural and chemical characterization of nanometric films at grain boundaries is now possible by using high resolution electron microscopy associated with X-ray micro-analysis, electron energy loss spectroscopy and Auger spectroscopy. In order to study this problem, two different classes of model materials were selected according to their crystallographic structure: a bcc metal (molybdenum) and an fcc one (nickel). The wetting element was either lead or tin or nickel. In a first approach, the metallic matrix was polycrystalline. The conditions in which the liquid phase penetrates into the grain boundaries were studied by using special preparation and observation techniques. In particular, the use of a Focused Ion Beam microscope (FIB) allowed the preparation of thin foils located very precisely inside the matrix as well as multi-scale observations. These specimens were further observed in electron microscopy with a very high resolution.

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