Nitrogen ion implantation on stainless steel: AFM study of surface modification

This work presents a study by means of atomic force microscopy (AFM) of the modification of the surface topography of AISI 304 austenitic stainless steel after N-ion implantation, irradiated by 1 × 1015 N2+/cm2 at 80 keV. Prior to the implantation surface modification, the samples were electropolished for the optimum observation of the surface at a small scale to obtain an initial surface with the smaller roughness. The electrolytic bath was composed of a mixture of water/sulphuric acid/orthophosphoric acid in percentages 20, 20 and 60%, respectively. Once the surface was optimized, the samples were implanted and observed by AFM, a new technique whose importance relies on its resolution power, allowing the acquisition of topographic images of the surface with nanometric resolution. Thanks to the high resolution power could be observed that ion implantation increases the surface roughness and promotes the apparition of 3 μm wide and 10 nm depth craters as well as the apparition of products with singular morphology.