Electro-optic interferometry for study of carbon deposition on transition metal surfaces: Preliminary results

The objective of this investigation is to measure surface enrichments, develop non equilibrium surface phase diagrams, and, using these phase diagrams area tools, study in situ reactions such as carbon deposition on transition metals and their alloys. Electro-Optic Interferometry (EOI) has been chosen as a nondestructive technique to monitor carbon deposition with the strains induced by the molar volume increase. Preliminary experiments have been performed by applying mechanical deformations to verify the accuracy of the EOI for monitoring strains on highly reflective, smooth surfaces. The preliminary results indicate that, using the EOI as described in this paper, full field displacements can be determined with accuracies down to 0.025 µm Based on these results it can be concluded that the EOI has potential for developing surface phase diagrams and in situ studies of carbon deposition.