Development of combined electron-ion-plasma method for formation of multiphase submicro-nanoscale alloys based on aluminum

Aluminum-based alloys are widely used in many branches of modern industry (aviation, mechanical engineer- ing, shipbuilding, instrument-making, energy and medicine, etc.). The promising method for further expanding the scope of these alloys is surface treatment based on the use of concentrated energy fluxes (laser beams, plasma flows, powerful ion beams, continuous and pulsed electron beams). The purpose of this paper is to establish the possibilities of integrated electron-ion-plasma modification of the structure and properties of the surface layer of technically pure aluminum A7. The surface alloy was formed in a single vacuum cycle using the “KOMPLEX” facility (ISE SB RAS) by spraying a titanium film with a thickness of 0.5 μm and the subsequent irradiation with an intense pulsed electron beam in the aluminum melting mode. After 20 “spraying/irradiation” cycles, nitriding (540 °C, 8 h) of the formed surface alloy was performed in a low-pressure gas discharge plasma using the plasma generator “PINK”. Surface alloy studies were carried out applying the modern materials science methods (scan- ning and transmission electron diffraction microscopy, X-ray phase analysis, determination of hardness and wear resistance). The choice of elements alloying the surface layer of aluminum was based on the analysis of binary state diagrams of Al-N, Al-Ti, Ti-N systems and the isotermal section of the ternary system Al-Ti-N. It has been shown that formation of an entire series of binary and ternary compounds, including MAX-phases of the composi- tion Ti2AlN and Ti4AlN3, is observed under equilibrium conditions in the Al-Ti-N system. The carried out research has allowed to state that an integrated method of electron-ion-plasma modification of technically pure A7 alumi- num by nitriding (540 °C, 8 h) of the surface alloy formed by pulsed melting in vacuum of the Al-Ti system (20 “spraying/irradiation” cycles with an electron beam with parameters 10 J/cm2; 50 μs; 10 pulses; the titanium film thickness in each cycle 0.5 μm) leads to formation of a multiphase multielement submicro-nanocrystalline surface layer up to 20 μm thick. It is shown that the mechanical (microhardness) and tribological (wear resistance and friction coefficient) properties of the formed surface layer exceed manifold the properties of the original commercially pure aluminum A7.