An investigation of the native oxide of aluminum alloy 7475-T7651 using XPS, AES, TEM, EELS, GDOES and RBS

Abstract

The native oxide on the rolled aerospace aluminum alloy 7475-T7651 was characterized using a variety of different techniques, including X-ray Photoelectron Spectrometry (XPS), Auger Electron Spectrometry (AES), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Electron Energy Loss Spectrometry (EELS), Glow Discharge Optical Emission Spectrometry (GDOES), and Rutherford Backscattered Spectrometry (RBS). All techniques revealed that the native oxide layer is magnesium-rich and is probably a mixture of magnesium and aluminum-magnesium oxides. The oxide layer was found to be of non-uniform thickness due to the rolling process involved during the manufacture of this sheet alloy; this complicates analysis u..