Effect of Nitrogen Ion Implantation on the Surface Hardness, Corrosion Rate, and Crystal Structure of Pure Aluminium

The weakness of aluminium and its alloys are relative low hardness and wear resistance. To improve this weakness a nitrogen ion implantation technique has been carried out. For the purpose, an ion implantation process was carried out for various of dose such as 0.578×1016 ion/cm2, 0.706×1016 ion/cm2, 0.842×1016 ion/cm2, 0.970×1016 ion/cm2, and 1.106×1016 ion/cm2 at a certain energy and beam current, 60 keV and 75 μA, respectively. Hardness test was performed using microhardness tester, the corrosion resistance was tested using the electrochemical method, and the crystal structure was analyzed using X-ray diffraction. From the hardness test result, it can be concluded that the optimum hardness in order of 37.5 VHN was achieved at an ion dose of 0.83×1017 ion/cm2. While the hardness for the untreated sample was 18.70 VHN. It meant, there is an increasing hardness by a factor of 100,53%. At these conditions, the corrosion rate reduces from 0.012 mmpy to 0.011 mmpy or reduce by a factor of 8.3%. Based on the XRD analysis, it can be obtained the AlN phase is formed through the peaks at 2-theta was 39.37° (111), 45.76° (200), and 66.88° (202).
Keywords: Ion Implantation, Hardness Test, XRD, Corrosion Rate, Pure Aluminium.