Pulsed power systems for commercial treatment of materials using short pulse, intense ion beams

The high peak power, single-pulse technology developed for government programs during the mid-60´s through the mid-80´s is being adapted for use in continuously operating, high average power commercial materials processing applications. A new thermal surface treatment technology, called Ion BEam Surface Treatment (IBEST), uses repetitive high energy (kJ´s per pulse), pulsed (≤500 ns) ion beams to directly deposit energy in the top 1–20 micrometers of the surface of any material ⁽¹⁾. A high average power IBEST processing system is made up of a magnetic pulse compressor (MPC), a Magnetically confined Anode Plasma (MAP) ion beam source, an ion beam transport system, a materials handling system and various cooling and reset systems. System issues such as cost, reliability, size, maintainability, and design-for-manufacturability that were of secondary importance behind specific performance requirements for the earlier government applications are now the primary issues in proposed industrial systems. Research systems are now obtaining lifetime, reliability, and design-rules information for high average power short-pulse components. Beam sources are being developed that are suitable for industrial systems operating at 5–100 kW, 0.1–2.0 MeV, and ≤500 ns pulse widths. Capital equipment costs, operating and financing costs, and sizing issues are being weighed against specific economic benefits obtained in short-pulse ion beam treatment of selected products. Dependable equipment designers and suppliers, facility integrators, and servicing organizations are being combined with development teams from end-user companies for final technology integration into major manufacturing facilities. An IBEST prototype commercial system is being designed and fabricated by QM Technologies for initial operation in mid-1997.