A laser-desorption mass-spectrometer microprobe has been developed to profile Li distributions on the crevice surfaces of Cr-plated rolled-joint hubs. A single laser pulse is used to desorb and ionize the surface species followed by detection of Li(+) in a time-of-flight mass spectrometer. Images of the surface Li distribution are obtained with a resolution of <10 microm. These images are directly compared with Li images from the more conventional secondary ion mass spectrometry technique and evaluated with respect to surface topographical features measured by secondary electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. The laser-desorption images are shown to provide the same qualitative information as that available from secondary ion mass spectrometry.