Characterization of high energy ion implantation into Ti–6Al–4V

Abstract

Ion implantation is a surface modification process that can improve the wear, fatigue, and corrosion resistance for several metals and alloys. Much of the research to date has focused on ion energies less than 1 MeV. With this in mind, Ti–6Al–4V was implanted with Al 2+, Au 3+, and N + ions at energies of 1.5 and 5 MeV and various doses to determine the effects on strengthening of a high energy beam. A post heat treatment on the specimens implanted with Al 2+ samples was conducted to precipitate Ti x Al type intermetallics near the surface. Novel techniques, such as nanoindentation, are available now to determine structure-mechanical property relationships in near-surface regions of the implanted samples. Thus, nanoindentation was performed on pre-implanted, as-implanted, and post heat treated samples to detect differences in elastic modulus and hardness at the sub-micron scale. In addition, sliding wear tests were performed to qualitatively determine the changes in wear performance. The effect of this processing was significant for samples implanted with Al 2+ ions at 1.5 MeV with a dose higher than 1 × 10 16 ions/cm 2 where precipitation hardening likely occurs and with N + ions.