| Abstrakt: |
Aluminum ion implantation of vanadium, niobium, and tantalum improved the metals’ oxidation resistances at 500 °C and 735 °C. Implanted vanadium oxidized only to one-third the extent of unimplanted vanadium when exposed at 500 °C to air. The oxidative weight gains of implanted niobium and tantalum proved negligible when measured at 500 °C and for times sufficient to fully convert the untreated metals to their pentoxides. At 735 °C, implantation of vanadium only slightly retarded its oxidation, while oxidative weight gains of niobium and tantalum were reduced by factors of 3 or more. Implanted niobium exhibited weight gain in direct proportion to oxidation time squared at 735 °C. Microstructural examination of the metals implanted with selected fluences of the 180 kV aluminum ions showed the following. The solubility limit of aluminum is extended by implantation, the body centered cubic (bcc) phases being retained to ∼60 at. pct Al in all three metals. The highest fluence investigated, 2.4 × 1022ions/m2, produced an ∼400-nm layer of VAl3beneath the surface of vanadium, and ∼300-nm layers of an amorphous phase containing ∼70 at. pct Al beneath the niobium and tantalum surfaces. All three metals, implanted to this fluence and annealed at 600 °C, contained tri-aluminides, intermetallic compounds known for their oxidation resistances. Specimens implanted to this fluence were thus selected for the oxidation measurements. |
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