AES–XPS study of chromium carbides and chromium iron carbides

The nature of chromium rich carbides which precipitate at grain boundaries in steels is still not perfectly understood. We performed a multitechnique approach on model chromium carbide and chromium–iron carbide samples: Auger Electron Spectroscopy AES., X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy XPS., X-ray Diffraction XRD., and High Energy Electron Diffraction HEED.were used to characterise the samples. Significant chemical shifts were observed for the Cr, Fe and C XPS peaks in the M7C3 compound M stands for metal., indicating unambiguously that the compound formed is a mixed iron–chromium carbide. q1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.