Effects on structure and properties of Zr₅₅Al ₁₀Cu₃₀Ni₅ metallic glass irradiated by high intensity pulsed ion beam

High intensity pulsed ion beam technology was used for the surface irradiation treatment of metallic glass Zr₅₅Al₁₀Cu ₃₀Ni₅ and W metal. The ion beam was mainly composed of Cⁿ⁺ (70%) and H⁺ (30%) at an acceleration voltage of 250 kV under different energy densities for different number of pulses. XRD analysis showed that the metallic glass remained amorphous in its main structure after HIPIB irradiation, without apparent presence of crystalline phases. SEM analysis concluded that there was no apparent irradiation damage on the surface of metallic glass at the low irradiation frequency (3 times and 10 times); "petal"-shaped irradiation damage appeared on the surface of metallic glass after multi-irradiation (100 times and 300 times), and the composition of the petal center included Fe and Cr, the composition of an ion diode cathode, in addition to the composition of Zr-based metallic glass. TEM analysis of irradiated metallic glass showed that a small amount of nanocrystalline Zr ₂Ni-type phase (face centered cubic) was produced only at 300-time irradiation. Cracks appeared on the surface of W after 100-time and 300-time irradiation; shedding phenomenon even appeared on the surface of W at the energy densities of 1.4 J/cm² and 2.0 J/cm². The surface nano-hardness of irradiated metallic glass decreased.