SURFACE MICROHARDENING IN ARGON-IMPLANTED ALUMINUM

The effectiveness of ion implantation for the production of a hard wear-resistant surface on aluminium was explored. Mechanically polished and then suitably etched aluminium samples were ultrasonically cleaned. The samples were implanted with an argon ion beam of energy 75 keV, 100 keV or 125 keV and chosen doses ranging from 5 x 10(19) to 1 x 10(21) ions m-2 at room temperature and were subjected to microhardness tests in both the implanted and the unimplanted states. An increase of about 80% in microhardness is observed at 125 keV for 1 x 10(21) ions m-2 at a load of 19.62 mN. The increase in microhardness is greatly influenced by the ion dose and also the energy of the projectile.