Characterization of metallurgical failures may include the need to identify segregation of elemental impurities to the surface of grain boundaries of the metal alloy. This surface segregation, which can be a layer of impurities thinner than 5nm or sub-micron precipitates, can result in brittleness of the material. The difficulty in characterizing this elemental segregation lies in maintaining the cleanliness of the fracture surface for subsequent analysis.
Breaking the metal alloy in atmosphere will contaminate the fracture surface, making positive identification of any segregates difficult to impossible. The alternative solution is to break the metal under high vacuum conditions (10 -10 torr) that will maintain a pristine fracture surface for an extended period of time and allow subsequent analysis of the exposed grain boundaries. This type of analysis is possible with Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES).