Ultra high fluence implantation of aluminum ions into CP–Ti

Abstract

This study describes the possibility of ultra-high fluence low ion energy aluminum implantation for surface modification of titanium. The DC vacuum arc source was used to produce dense metal plasma. Plasma immersion aluminum ions extraction and their ballistic focusing in equipotential space of negatively biased hemispherical electrode were used to obtain high-intensity aluminum ion beam with the maximum amplitude of 0.6 A at the ion current density up to 200 mA/cm2. The original filtration system was used to prevent the deposition of vacuum arc aluminum macroparticles onto the irradiated area of titanium sample. Aluminum low energy ions (mean ion energy 2.6 keV) were implanted into titanium with the fluences reaching 1021 ion/cm2. The effect of substrate temperature, ion current density on the phase composition, microstructure and elemental distribution was studied by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, glow-discharge optical emission spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The results show the appearance of Ti3Al intermetallic phase after Al implantation. The depth of aluminum penetration into titanium increases with the substrate temperature and multiply exceeds the projected ranges of ions of given energies and reaches several dozens of μm.