Corrosion and wear mechanisms of aluminum alloys surface reinforced by multicharged N-implantation

Samples of Al-1050 and of Al-2024 aluminum alloys were implanted by means of nitrogen multicharged ion beam provided by an ECR source. Wear and corrosion tests were performed in order to qualify and quantify the surface enhancement created by implantation. The tests performed, respectively, using ball-on-disk set up and linear polarization technique, combined with SEM observations and correlated with microstructural study already published, made possible the identification of damaging mechanisms of nitrogen implanted aluminum surface. The study underlines the importance which has to be given to the implanted fluence and to the initial microstructure, if a consistent surface improvement is targeted. It is demonstrated in this work that the improvement of wear resistance is strongly linked to the intrinsic properties of the nitride protective layer and not to the initial microstructure which only affects optimum fluence. Corrosion tests reveal inverse tendency. The alloy composition is, in this case, of importance, contrarily to implanted fluencies which do not affect the results. This study also shows that if nitrogen implantation is good for surface resistance, a pit (corrosion) or a crack (wear) of implanted surface causes more damage than corrosion or wear of untreated surface.