Materials (May 2023)
Effect of Annealing on the Surface Hardness of High-Fluence Nitrogen Ion-Implanted Titanium
Abstract
Commercially pure titanium grade II was kinetically nitrided by implanting nitrogen ions with a fluence in the range of (1–9)·1017 cm−2 and ion energy of 90 keV. Post-implantation annealing in the temperature stability range of TiN (up to 600 °C) shows hardness degradation for titanium implanted with high fluences above 6·1017 cm−2, leading to nitrogen oversaturation. Temperature-induced redistribution of interstitially located nitrogen in the oversaturated lattice has been found to be the predominant hardness degradation mechanism. The impact of the annealing temperature on a change in surface hardness related to the applied fluence of implanted nitrogen has been demonstrated.
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