Influence of Nitrogen Ion Implantation on the Disc Brake Material of Motor Vehicles Component

Weaknesses of local disc brakes are cover several conditions such as low hardness, wear, and corrosion resistance. To improve this weakness, it is necessary to modify the surface properties of the material. The aim of this research is to study the influences of nitrogen ion implantation on the surface properties of a disc brake material. The implantation process was carried out for various of ions dose such as 3.107×1016 ions/cm2, 3.148×1016 ions/cm2, 3.728×1016 ions/cm2, 4.039×1016 ions/cm2, 4.350×1016 ions/cm2 at a certain energy and beam current of 60×1016 ions/cm2, 30 μA respectively. Hardness and wear properties were tested using microhardness tester and wear testing machine, respectively. Meanwhile, the crystalline structure for un-implanted (raw) and implanted materials at the optimum dose was analyzed using XRD. From the hardness test results, it can be obtained that the hardness of raw material is 59.82 VHN and after implantation it reached the highest value of 109.78 VHN or increases by factor 83%, while the wear test results is 22.9×10-9 mm2/kg for raw material and after implantation it reaches the highest value of 2.5×10-9 cm2/kg or decreases by factor 88%. These conditions were obtained at 3.728×1016 ions/cm2 of dose. Based on the XRD analysis, 45.5% Fe2N and 54.55% Fe3N compounds are formed.
Keywords: Ion Implantation, Disc Brake, Hardness Test, Wear Test, XRD.