An investigation of the corrosion of polycrystalline iron by XPS, TMS and CEMS

The room temperature studies of polycrystalline iron exposed to air at various temperatures were performed using: the transmission Mössbauer spectroscopy (TMS), the conversion electron Mössbauer spectroscopy (CEMS) and the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The unique combination of these techniques allows to determine changes of chemical composition and content of iron oxides simultaneously on the surface region, the 300 nm pre-surface region and the bulk of the samples. The results show that the chemical composition of samples changes significantly and it is strongly dependent on temperature at which the iron sample is exposed to air as well as on investigated region.