Corrosion behavior of tin ions implanted zirconium in 1N H2SO4

In order to study the effect of tin ion implantation on the aqueous corrosion behavior of zirconium, specimens were implanted with tin ions to a fluence ranging from 1 × 1020 to 5 × 1021 ions/m2, using a metal vapor vacuum arc source (MEVVA) at an extraction voltage of 40 kV. The valence states and depth distributions of elements in the surface layer were analyzed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and auger electron spectroscopy (AES) respectively. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were used to examine the micro-morphology and microstructure of tin-implanted samples. When the fluence was greater than 1 × 1020 ions/m2, many small tin balls were produced in the implanted surface. The potentiodynamic polarization technique was employed to evaluate the aqueous corrosion resistance of implanted zirconium in a 1N H2SO4 solution. It was found that a significant improvement was achieved in the aqueous corrosion resistance of zirconium implanted with 1 × 1020 ions/m2. When the fluence is higher than 1 × 1020 ions/m2, the corrosion resistance of zirconium implanted with tin ions decreased compared with that of the non-implanted zirconium. Finally, the mechanism of the corrosion behavior of the tin-implanted zirconium is discussed.