Phase and Element Contents of the cBN Based Composites as Estimated by XPS

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) is used to estimate phase and element contents of the composites based on cubic boron nitride. A composite is a mixture of several compounds and the use of traditional X-ray diffraction for phase analysis in many cases can be difficult. By using XPS, we were able to evaluate the atomic concentration of elements and the content of different compounds of each element. SEM and XPS showed that samples are heterogeneous. The TiB2 phase, expecting from thermodynamic calculations, was formed in both investigated samples of cBN/Ti3SiC2/TiC but in different amount. The Ti3SiC2 additive was found more chemically active then TiC.