Application of FIB/SEM/EDXS tomographic spectral imaging and multivariate statistical analysis to the analysis of localized corrosion

Tomographic spectral imaging is a powerful technique for the 3D analysis of materials. The present work describes the application of this technique to the analysis of localized corrosion of a connector pin. Implemented via serial sectioning in a focused ion-beam/scanning electron microscope, electron-excited x-ray spectra were acquired from each voxel in a 3D array. The resultant tomographic spectral image was analyzed in its entirety with Sandia´s Automated eXpert Spectral Image Analysis multivariate statistical analysis software. The result of the analysis is a small number of chemical components which describe the 3D phase distribution in the volume of material sampled.