Investigations on the oxidation behavior of technical molybdenum foils by means of secondary-ion mass spectrometry

Refractory metals reveal high thermomechanical stability, good conductivity and a high melting point, but poor corrosion resistance under oxidizing atmospheres. Molybdenum foils doped with oxides play an important role in the lighting industry as feed-through wires because their thermal expansion coefficient is very similar to that of glass. Exposure to elevated temperatures (300–500°C) leads to oxidation of the material within a few hours. The influence of different dopants in the range from 200–5000 ppm on the oxidation behavior of the molybdenum foils was investigated using secondary-ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) techniques.