High Intensity low Aluminum Ion Energy Implantation into Titanium

This study describes the possibility of ultra-high dose aluminum ion implantation for surface modification of titanium. The DC vacuum arc source was used to produce dense metal plasma. Plasma immersion aluminum ions extraction and their ballistic focusing in equipotential space of negatively biased hemispherical electrode was used to obtain high intensity aluminum ion beam with the maximum amplitude of 1 A at the ion current density up to hundreds of mA/cm². The original filtration system was used to prevent the deposition of vacuum arc aluminum macroparticles onto the irradiation area of titanium sample. Aluminum low energy ions (ion energy E < 10 keV) were implanted into titanium with the doses reaching 10²¹ ion/cm². The effect of ion current density, implantation dose and substrate temperature on the phase composition, microstructure and distribution of elements was studied by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and glow-discharge optical emission spectroscopy, respectively. The results show the appearance of Ti₃Al intermetallic phase after Al implantation. The depth of aluminum penetration into titanium increases with the implantation dose and multiply exceeds the projected ranges of ions of given energies.