Role of Chromium in High-Dose, High-Rate, Elevated Temperature Nitrogen Implantation of Austenitic Stainless Steels

Abstract

ABSTRACTIn order to help establish the role of Cr in high-dose, high-dose-rate, elevated temperature N implantation of austenitic (fcc) stainless steels, similar implantations into fee Ni80Fe20 and Ni80Cr20 alloys have been made and characterized by Auger depth profiling and X-ray diffraction. For the Ni-Fe alloy a shallow layer fcc(∼ 0.2 μm) containing an ordered fee γ'-(Ni0.8Fe0.4)4N phase is induced. In contrast, for the Ni-Cr alloy a much thicker N-containing layer (∼ 0.2 μm) is produced consisting primarily of a high-N solid solution fee phase. The fractions of the implanted N retained in Ni-Fe and Ni-Cr were approximately 10 and 100%, respectively. The mechanisms by which Cr is promoting the deep migration and high retention of N in solid solution are proposed.