Effect of titanium ion implantation and deposition on hydrogenation behavior of Zr-1Nb alloy

In order to study the effect of titanium ion implantation and deposition on hydrogenation behavior of Zr-1Nb alloy, the samples were subjected to plasma immersion implantation and deposition (PIII&D) of titanium ions at the bias voltage of 0.5-1.5 kV using a filtered metal vapor vacuum arc source. The crystalline structure, surface morphology and depth distributions of elements in the surface layer of the samples were analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and glow-discharge optical emission spectroscopy (GD-OES), respectively. Hydrogen saturation was performed from hydrogen atmosphere at 673 K temperature and 2 atm. pressure. It was found that hydrogen absorption rate by Zr-1Nb alloy decreased after PIII&D. The modified layers contained a mixing zone of titanium and zirconium, which decreases with increasing bias voltage. Hydrogenation causes the formation of titanium hydrides and lattice distortions of α-Zr at the low bias voltage that does not occur at higher bias voltages. The hydrogenation behavior of modified zirconium alloy was discussed.