IN-SITU CHARACTERIZATION OF MGLI COMPOSITE-MATERIALS BY MEANS OF AES AND FACTOR-ANALYSIS

During manufacture of delta-Al2O3 fibre reinforced MgLi alloys the hig h mobility and reacitivity especially of the Li metal can cause damage of the fibres and loss of the good mechanical behaviour. Because of t he low fibre diameter (2 to 5 mu m), and the necessity to detect Li, l aterally highly resolved Auger electron spectroscopy was used to study the fibre-matrix-interaction. The measurements were performed at samp le surfaces, which had been uncovered by in-situ fracture in the UHV a pparatus. Due to the bad signal/noise ratio (which was tolerated to ac hieve high lateral resolution) and the overlapping spectral features, and in order to make an attempt to classify the large amount of spectr a obtained, factor analysis in conjuction with cluster analysis was us ed in the interpretation of AES data. So it was possible to detect the chemical species which are responsible for the apperance of the exper imental spectra and to draw conclusions concerning the Fracture morpho logy (inter granular, trans granular).