Title :
Lithium wetting of stainless steel studied via scanning auger microscopy
Author :
Skinner, C.H. ; Capece, A.M. ; Koel, B.E. ; Roszell, J.P.
Author_Institution :
Princeton Plasma Phys. Lab., Princeton, NJ, USA
Abstract :
We are applying a Scanning Auger Microprobe (SAM) to study the growth of lithium films on stainless steel substrates. A small (mm-scale) amount of metallic lithium is applied to a stainless steel surface in a oxygen-free glove box and transferred to the antechamber of the SAM. Native impurities on the stainless steel and lithium surfaces are removed by Ar+ ion sputtering with the SAM ion beam and the surface composition measured by spatially resolved AES. After etching with the ion beam, the AES spectrum from stainless steel adjacent to the lithium showed the Li 50 eV AES line, indicating that surface diffusion of lithium onto the etched stainless steel surface had taken place at room temperature (i.e. well below the 181°C Li melting temperature). The speed of Li spreading on stainless steel under various surface conditions will be reported.
Keywords :
Auger electron spectra; etching; ion beam effects; lithium; metallic thin films; scanning electron microscopy; sputtering; stainless steel; surface diffusion; wetting; AES; Li; SAM ion beam; antechamber; etching; ion sputtering; lithium surface; lithium wetting; metallic lithium films; oxygen-free glove box; scanning Auger microscopy; stainless steel substrate; surface composition; surface diffusion; temperature 293 K to 298 K; Ion beams; Lithium; Magnetic liquids; Plasmas; Steel; Surface treatment;
Conference_Titel :
Plasma Sciences (ICOPS) held with 2014 IEEE International Conference on High-Power Particle Beams (BEAMS), 2014 IEEE 41st International Conference on
Conference_Location :
Washington, DC
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4799-2711-1
DOI :
10.1109/PLASMA.2014.7012377
