Tantalum Ion Implantation into Cu-12Nb for Electromagnetic Railgun Technology

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ABSTRACTAnalysis of fired rails from electromagnetic railgun indicates gross surface melting near the breach end of the rails. This effect is most likely caused by joule heating and arc erosion. To improve the mechanical behavior of the rail material, alloys of copper, such as Cu-0.6 Nb, has been used in the past with moderate success. More recently another alloy of copper, Cu-18 Nb, has become available. Preliminary metallurgical research in the thermomechanical properties of this latter alloy indicates it could be a candidate for application in EM gun systems. In this effort we have attempted to study the influence of ion implantation on the thermomechanical properties of Cu-12Nb alloy. In a series of experiments, Ta ions have been implanted at an energy range of 100–180 KeV and a dose of 5 × 1016 cm-2. Several analytical techniques such as Rutherford Back Scattering (RBS), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), arc erosion, and microhardness measurements have been done. It has been shown that although there is an improvement in the microhardness of the implanted materials, the ion implantation saturation dose cannot exceed 5 × 1016 cm-2. Furthermore, the RBS data indicate that the implanted Ta resides mostly at a depth of about 200–300 Å from the surface. Results from the SEM analysis of unimplanted Cu-12Nb indicate the Nb has an acicular morphology and is randomly distributed. Results from microhardness measurements of the implanted materials indicate that implantation enhances the microhardness. In another experiment, such as implantation of Ta in an already TiN coated surface, we observed a similar increase in the microhardness value. We speculate that the microhardness improvement of Cu-18Nb or the Ta implanted TiN surface is due to induce compressional stresses near the lenticular (filament) Nb fibers in the Cu-18Nb composite.