Interpretation of atom probe tomography data for the intermetallic TiAl+Nb by means of field evaporation simulation

In this paper simulations of the field evaporation process during field ion microscopy (FIM) and atom probe tomography (APT) are presented and compared with experimental data. The Müller–Schottky-model [1] was extended to include the local atomic arrangement on the evaporation process of atoms. This arrangement was described by the sum of the next-neighbor-binding-energies, which differ for an atom of type A, depending on how many A–A, B–B or A–B bonds are present. Thus simulations of APT-data of intermetallic phases become feasible. In this study simulations of L10–TiAl with additions of Nb are compared with experimental data. Certain artifacts, which appear for experimental data are treated as well.

► New approach, considering A–B bindings, accurately simulates APT of TiAl+Nb.
► AtomVicinity of TiAl+Nb allows to compare APT-simulations to experiments.
► Nb strongly influences the field evaporation behavior of L10–TiAlL10–TiAl.