Surface roughness behaviour of ion irradiated industrial steel

We have studied the sputtering yield and surface roughness changes of Starvax steels (Cr:13.6, C: 0.38%, Si:0.8%, Mn: 0.5%, V: 0.3%, Mold and Die Steel) used for the manufacture of optical back-light polymer. For this study, we have built a dedicated high current low energy ion source(15 keV, 5 mA). After irradiation of various ion species onto the specimen at various beam incidence with respect to the specimen species, sputtering rates and roughness characteristics of the irradiated surface were analyzed by Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) and a large area optical profiler system. After irradiation with a low energy ion beam (15 keV), the sputtering yield increased and the surface roughness decreased with increasing ion mass and incident angle below a critical incident angle.