Metal vapour vacuum arc ion implantation facility in Turkey

A vacuum arc ion source based metal ion implantation facility is built and in operation at TUBITAK (The Scientific and Technical Research Council of Turkey), Izmir, Turkey and a surface modification research and development program is being carried out here. The system is similar to the one in Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, which was first built and developed by Brown et al. The broad-beam ion source can be repetitively pulsed at rates up to ∼50 pulses per second and the extracted ion beam current can be up to ∼1 A peak or ∼10 mA time averaged. The ion source extraction voltage can be increased up to 110 kV. Additionally, mixed metal and gas ion beams were generated by a magnetic field, which was obtained through a magnet coil located in front of anode plate and by adding gas in the discharge region. This modified system was used to form buried layers of mixed metal-gas species such as Ti+N (on 316 SS and Ti alloy samples) and Zr and W (316 SS and Ti alloy samples, respectively) of which their hardness, coefficient of friction and wear volumes were measured and their RBS results were obtained. The anodic electrochemical tests showed that the corrosion resistance of Ti implanted 304 SS samples was increased with the dose. Micro structures of Ti implanted surfaces of 304 SS samples were examined with SEM before and after the corrosion tests and the results showed that the pittings were formed mostly in the areas where implanted Ti concentration was less. Recently, the system is equipped with TOF for measuring the charge state distribution of ions. R&D work is planned for the purpose of forming tribologically enhanced materials for industrial applications by using ion implantation, PVD coating, plasma nitriding and their combinations. The results showed that the hardness and performance of ion implanted (with various metals and N) PVD coated cutting inserts increased remarkably. The use of ion implantation techniques in modifying the properties of textile and other materials and optimising the performance of textile and other industrial machine parts and tools is also being investigated and some of the results are presented in this work.