Surface evaluation of carbon steel doped with nitrogen ions

Abstract

This studyproposes by meansof analytical characterization techniques, astructural evaluation of the surfacemodification of aferrous material bythree-dimensionalion implantationplasma technology.Carbon steel substrates immerse in a gaseous atMo sphere,were surface implantedwith nitrogen ionsvia high voltage pulse discharges activated at a low-pressure range (“high vacuum”).The effect of the surface treatment on the structure, composition and morphology of the substrates was verified by microscopy and spectroscopy techniques. From the micrographs obtained by scanning electronic microscopy and the analysis elemental by energy dispersive spectroscopy the morphology and nitrogen concentration of thetreated and non-treated samples wereanalyzedand compared. As for the elemental analysis by energy dispersive spectroscopy, nitrogen concentration in the implanted substrates were detected and determinedat a relatively low amount. In regard to the X-raydiffraction results, a decrease in the intensity of the (110), (200)and (211)planes of the treated substratecompared with the reference substrate,wasobserved. Theanalysis ofphases-formation onthe surface materialperformed by Raman spectroscopy, identified mainly ferric oxy-hydroxidestypical uniform corrosion products.

Electrochemical Behavior of a Stainless Steel Superficially Modified with Nitrogen by Three-dimensional Ion Implantation

“…That is, before feeding in the ion flux of nitrogen, an Argon (Ar) flux was supplied at certain conditions with the purpose of eliminating the greatest possible amount of impurities and adapting the roughness across the surface of the substrates. The JUPITER operation conditions for both processes (sputtering and ion implantation) agree with previous experiments and shown in Table 2 (Dougar -Zhabon et al, 1999-Zhabon et al, , 2002Valbuena-Niño et al, 2010Sanabria et al, , 2020.…”

“…(Anandan et al, 2007;Maleki-Ghaleh et al, 2014;Muthukumaran et al, 2010;Padhy et al, 2010;Pereira et al, 2017;Osozawa and Okato, 1976). Several works have attributed the beneficial effect of nitrogen ion implantation in ferrous alloys to different physical and chemical phenomena such as the supersaturation of the atomic structure, the generated stresses, and the defect density (Sanabria et al, 2020). Regarding the electrochemical properties of stainless steels, the contribution of both implanted nitrogen and the formation of chromium nitride on the metal's surface have been confirmed as the main mechanisms in the enhancement of corrosion potential and current density.…”

“…With the purpose of improving the functionality in corrosive environments of ferrous alloys widely used in engineering applications, this paper presents the results obtained from the electrochemical analysis of a 420-grade stainless steel surface modified by three-dimensional ion implantation (3DII), a particular implantation technique that overcomes the limitations mentioned above. By means of 3DII, nitrogen (N) ions are bombarded upon the surface of AISI 420 SS substrates at previously established energy levels and exposition times (Dougar-Zhabon, 1999, 2002Valbuena-Niño et al, 2010Sanabria et al, , 2020. Then, the effect of the surface modification and performance of the SS samples exposed to an aggressive media simulating work operation is evaluated through the following electrochemical techniques: linear polarization resistance (LRP), Tafel extrapolation, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS).…”

Study of Concentration-depth Profiles of the Titanium and Nitrogen Ions by SRIM/TRIM Simulation

“…In figure 3 it is shown the distribution profile and the path of the Ti (figure 3a) and N (figure 3b) ions accelerated at a 10 keV voltage upon the surface of an AISI/SAE 1020 carbon steel whose elemental composition, an input variable required by the software, was based on the results obtained by optical emission spectroscopy in other works reported by Sanabria [25], [26]. It is observed the irregular trajectories due to the polycrystalline structure of the base material and the magnitude of the applied voltage; the path of implanted ions reaches depths in the material up to 300 Å for Ti molecules and 600 Å for N molecules.…”