Carburizing of zirconium using a low energy Mather type plasma focus

►Carburizing of zirconium using Mather type plasma focus operated with methane. ►Existence and variation of sp2 and sp3 by Raman spectroscopy analysis. ►The presence of ZrC phase by XRD results. ►Variation in surface morphology and elemental composition by SEM and EDX. ►Approximately 5 times surface hardness increase as compared to pristine zirconium.