Abstract：In pursuing the goals of greater efficiency, higher power output and reduced emissions, aircraft engine producers and manufacturers of power turbines are putting new demands on materials and components as the need pushing combustion temperatures higher and higher. Additional advancements of the well-established high temperature superalloys or developing more advanced generations is essential in order to maintain the mechanical strength of these materials while increasing the ability to operate the components made from them at higher temperatures. As these performance improvements lead to new requirements for the next generation of materials, manufacturers are establishing more strict specifications limits and quality control procedures. In this study, we demonstrate that the new generation of glow-discharge mass spectrometry instruments based on the fast-flow ion source are very valuable analytical tools for rapid and highly sensitive measurements of complex superalloys. Besides survey analysis and bulk impurity determinations, this new direct sampling approach is extremely well-suited for mapping of elemental distributions in production heats as well as for depth resolved analysis of trace elements in protective coatings and interfaces.
