Damage profile examination on ion irradiated peek by 6Li doping and neutron depth profiling technique

Abstract

Depth structure of radiation damaged surface layer of poly(aryl–ether–ether ketone) (PEEK) a polymer was studied using doping with 6Li atoms combined with nondestructive neutron depth profiling (NDP) method. The PEEK foils were irradiated with 2 MeV O + ions up to a fluence of 6 × 10 14 ions/cm 2. The damage profiles in the samples were visualized by doping of the samples with 5 M LiCl water solution at room temperature (RT) for 22.5 h. The Li ions are trapped on ion-produced radiation defects and the Li depth profiles are determined by the NDP method. NDP experiments were performed before and after leaching of excess of lithium atoms from the samples in distilled water at RT for 2 h. The leaching leads to dramatic changes in the Li depth distribution which, at low ion fluences, is similar in shape to the electronic energy loss profile of 2 MeV O + ions. For the higher fluences double-peaked profile occurs, which indicates a competition between different degradation processes in ion irradiated polymer.