A comparison of the performance of Zr, Zr+O and N implanted stainless steel

Summary form only given. Have carried out some exploratory investigations of the efficacy of Zr ion implantation and Zr+O co-implantation for enhancement of the tribology and corrosion characteristics of 316-L stainless steel. A broad-beam vacuum arc based ion implanter was used for the metal and metal+gas implantations. Implantation dose was in the range (10/sup 16/-10/sup 17/) cm/sup -2/, and the ion energy was typically about 100 keV. The highly polished stainless steel substrates were tested for their wear and friction behaviour with a pin-on-disk apparatus, for their hardness with an ultra micro hardness tester, and their corrosion performance were determined by potentio-dynamic polarization measurements. Wear and friction behaviour of the implanted samples against UHMWPE disk samples were also examined.