Phase formation and modification of corrosion property of nitrogen implanted Ti–Al–V alloy

In the present investigation, polished samples were implanted with nitrogen ion at an energy of 60 keV and implantation doses were 1×1016, 5×1016, 1×1017 and 6×1017 ions/cm2. Glancing incidence X-ray diffraction was employed on the implanted specimens to understand the phases formed with increasing dose. The valence states of nitrogen, titanium and carbon on the sample surfaces were analyzed by X-ray photoemission spectroscopy. The corrosion resistance was examined by the electrochemical methods in a solution with pH=10 at room temperature in order to determine the optimum dose that can give good corrosion resistance in a simulated nuclear reactor condition. Scanning electron microscopy was used to observe the topographies of nitrogen-implanted Ti–Al–Zr after potentiodynamic measurement. It was found that implanted nitrogen dissolved in titanium matrix with increasing dose and the resultant nitrides such as TiN and Ti2N precipitated. Implantation of nitrogen ions into the surface of Ti–Al–V alloy improves its corrosion resistance, and the increase of the corrosion resistance depends on the nitrogen dose employed; the maximum improvement of the corrosion resistance was observed at a dose of 1×1017 N+/cm2.