Oxidation of chromia-forming alloys (pure chromium, nickel–chromium alloy and ferritic stainless steel alloy) at temperature ranging from 800 to 1050 °C was conducted on samples with or without gold markers applied prior to testing. Gold is often used as a marker in order to identify oxide growth direction. Its localization inside the oxide scale can demonstrate an inward or an outward growth. It is found that gold particles can be found either at the internal metal/oxide interface or inside the scale or again at the external oxide/gas interface on the same sample (on NiCr and stainless steel alloys). For pure chromium oxidation, gold is found inside the chromia scale, at the equiaxed-columnar interface, as expected from ASTAR-TEM characterization. However, photoelectrochemical characterization has shown that gold can modify the semiconducting chromia properties. Finally, gold is not inert in these several conditions and should not be considered in these present cases, but also more generally in most cases, as an appropriate marker. On the contrary, ASTAR maps may permit to access the oxide growth direction without interfering the studied system.

氧化铬形成合金（纯铬、镍铬合金和铁素体不锈钢合金）在 800 至 1050 °C 的温度范围内对样品进行氧化，在测试前使用或不使用金标记。金通常用作标记以识别氧化物生长方向。它在氧化皮内的定位可以表现出向内或向外生长。发现金颗粒可以在内部金属/氧化物界面或鳞片内部或在同一样品（在 NiCr 和不锈钢合金上）的外部氧化物/气体界面处发现。对于纯铬氧化，正如 ASTAR-TEM 表征所预期的那样，在等轴柱状界面处的氧化铬标尺内发现了金。然而，光电化学表征表明，金可以改变半导体氧化铬的特性。最后，金在这几种情况下不是惰性的，在这些当前情况下不应考虑，但在大多数情况下更普遍地，作为合适的标记。相反，ASTAR 图可能允许在不干扰研究系统的情况下访问氧化物生长方向。