Surface modification of Ti6Al4V alloy by two process: Immersion ion implantation and plasma jet

Abstract

The present work was aimed to study the improvement of mechanical characteristics of the Ti6Al4V alloy surface, induced by ion nitriding process. The increase of hardness and other improvements of the Ti6Al4V alloy surface allow wider applicability of this material in several industrial areas, in particular, biocompatibility applications. One of the used processes was Plasma Immersion Ion Implantation (PIII), where the three-dimensional samples can be homogeneously treated. In such technique, the target is surrounded by the plasma and then pulse biased to high negative voltage. Another technique studied in this article was the process of nitrogen plasma jet. In this case, a reactor of low plasma density is the source of an expansion gas through a constriction hole that separates the source chamber from the vacuum chamber, where the nitriding is processed. Physical and chemical characterizations of nitrided samples were carried out to formulate the correlations between superficial characteristics of the material and of the parameters of the ion nitriding process.

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