Effect of 60 keV nitrogen ion implantation on oxidation resistance of IMI 834 titanium alloy

IMI 834 titanium alloy has been proved to be beneficial for aerospace application because of its light weight and high strength. The poor oxidation property at high temperature however produces a bottleneck for using these alloys in aero engines. Ion implantation is a proved technique to improve the surface property without changing its bulk properties. N+ ion is implanted at 60 keV with varying ion doses ranging from 5 × 1015 to 1 × 1017 ions/cm2. Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) has been used to study surface morphology showing evidence of compound formation. TiN compound formation is confirmed using Glancing Incidence X-ray Diffraction (GIXRD) technique. Oxidation resistance is studied at 700 °C and 800 °C. The change in oxidation resistance with the change in ion dose is described in this paper.