Studies on the corrosion behavior of cerium-implanted zirconium

In order to study the influence of cerium ion implantation on the aqueous corrosion behavior of zirconium, specimens were implanted with cerium ions with a fluence ranging from 1 × 1020 to 1 × 1021 ions/m2 at about 150 °C, using a MEVVA source at an extracted voltage of 40 kV. The valence and element penetration distribution of the surface layer were analyzed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and auger electron spectroscopy (AES) respectively. The potentiodynamic polarization technique was employed to investigate the aqueous corrosion resistance of zirconium in a 1N H2SO4 solution. It was found that there was a remarkable improvement in the aqueous corrosion behavior of zirconium implanted with cerium ions compared with that of the as-received zirconium. The corrosion resistance improvement of the cerium-implanted zirconium is probably due to the addition of cerium oxide dispersoid into the zirconium matrix and oxidization protection.