Computer simulation of thermal–mechanical effects of high intensity pulsed ion beams on a metal surface

By using Monte-Carlo sampling methods we calculated the energy deposition profiles of high-intensity pulsed ion beams (IPIBs) vs. pulsed ion currents and accelerating voltage. Then simulations of thermal–mechanical effects of IPIBs were carried out with coupled fluid–plastic equations. Based on the above calculation, several characteristics of both IPIBs energy deposition and thermal–mechanical effects have been obtained. As a high intense energy beam, the total energy deposition distribution curve of IPIBs has a similar shape compared with intense pulsed laser and electron beams, but time schedule behavior and its affected range are far different from those two kinds of high power energy beams. Therefore, IPIBs have their own thermal–mechanical peculiarities. The calculation for a single pulse also shows that the compression pressure waves in targets caused by IPIBs are strongly dependent on the combination of current density and accelerating voltage. This may be explained by the fact that this combination influences the effective energy deposition density, which radically contributes to the production of thermal shock waves of IPIBs in target materials.