Microstructure and property modifications in surface layers of a Mg-4Sm-2Al-0.5Mn alloy induced by pulsed electron beam treatments

In this work,surface modification of a Mg-4Sm-2Al-0.5Mn alloy with high current pulse electron beam(HCPEB)under different number of pulses were investigated.The evolution in microstructure,composition and phase components and properties in the surface layer before and after HCPEB treatment were characterized.It was found that the Al 11 Sm 3 and Al 2 Sm phases in the surface layer were gradually dissolved during HCPEB treatment,leading to the formation of a chemical homogeneous melted layers.Besides,deformation bands were formed in the treated layer due to the thermal stress generated during treatment.After 15 pulses treatment,the surface hardness increases to the maximum value of about 62.2 HV,about 61.2%higher than that of the untreated state.Electrochemical results show that the 15 pulses treated sample presents the best corrosion resistance in the 3.5wt%NaCl water solution by showing the highest corrosion potential(E_(corr))of-1.339V SEC and the lowest corrosion current density(I_(corr))of 1.48×10^(-6)A·cm^(-2).The results prove that the surface properties of the Mg-4Sm-2Al-0.5Mn alloy can be significantly improved by the HCPEB treatments under proper conditions.

Microstructure and corrosion resistance of a Mg2Sn-dispersed Mg alloy subjected to pulsed electron beam treatment

We report that the corrosion resistance of a Mg-Sn-based alloy with MgzSn precipitates can be considerably improved by surface modification using pulsed electron beam treatment.The alloy subjected to a pulse electron beam treatment showed a modified surface layer with a thickness of〜12 μm,appearing more resistant to corrosion attack than the bare surface of the alloy.In 0.6 M NaCl solution,the alloys with and without the surface modification exhibited average corrosion rates of 4.3 and 8.1 mm y^-1,respectively.The improved corrosion resistance was attributed to reduced cathodic activation,resulting from the surficial reduction of relatively noble Mg2Sn precipitates.

Compounded Surface Modification of ZK60 Mg Alloy by High Current Pulsed Electron Beam+Micro-plasma Oxidation

In this study, compounded surface modification technology-high current pulsed electron beam （HCPEB） ＋ micro-plasma oxidation （MPO） was applied to treat ZK60 Mg alloys. The characteristics of the microstructure of ZK60 Mg alloy after single MPO and HCPEB＋MPO compounded treatment were investigated by SEM. The results showed that the density of the ceramic layer of HCPEB＋MPO-treated ZK60 Mg alloy was improved and defects were reduced compared to that under MPO treatment alone. Surface modified layer of ZK60 Mg alloys treated by HCPEB＋MPO was divided into three zones, namely the top loose ceramic zone, middle compact zone and inside HCPEB-induced melted zone. Corrosion resistance of ZK60 Mg alloy before and after the compounded surface modification was measured in a solution of 3.5% NaCl by potentiodynamic polarization curves. It was found that the corrosion current density of ZK60 Mg alloys could be reduced by about three orders of magnitude, from 311μA/cm^2 of the original sample to 0.2μA/cm^2 of the HCPEB＋MPO-treated sample. This indicates the great application potential of the HCPEB＋MPO compounded surface modification technology in improving the corrosion resistance of ZK60 Mg alloys in the future.

Characterizing modified surface layer of 316L stainless steel treated by high current pulsed electron beam

High current pulsed electron beam(HCPEB) is now developing as a useful tool for surface modification of materials.When concentrated electron flux transferring its energy into the surface layer of target material within a short pulse time,coupled thermal and stress processes would lead to the formation of metastalbe microstructure with improved properties.In the present work,HCPEB treatment of 316L stainless steel(SS) was carried out and the microstructural changes in modified surface layer were characterized with optical microscopy,X-ray diffractometry and electron backscatter diffractometry(EBSD) techniques.The corrosion resistance of modified surface was measured in a 5wt.% salt solution.The evolution regularity of surface craters and grain refinement effect,as well as the preferred orientation of(111) crystal plane occurring in the HCPEB treatment under different working parameters were discussed along with their influence on corrosion resistance.

HIGH-CURRENT PULSED ELECTRON BEAM: RAPID SURFACE ALLOYING AND WEAR RESISTANCE IMPROVEMENT

The present paper reports the rapid surface alloying induced by the bombardment of high-current pulsed electron beam. Two kinds of substrate materials were examined to show this effect. The first sample was a pure Al metal pre-coated with fine carbon powders prior to the bombardment, and the second alloy is the D2-Crl2MolVl mould steel pre-coated with Cr, Ti, and TiN powders. The surface elements diffuse about several micrometers into the substrate materials only after several bombardments. Tribological behaviors of these samples were characterized and significant improvement in wear resistance was found. Finally, a TEM analysis reveals the presence of stress waves generated by coupled thermal and stress fields, which was considered as the main cause of the enhanced properties.

A 20 kV, 5 A, 1 ns Risetime Pulsed Electron Beam Source

A 20 kV, 1 ns risetime pulsed electron beam source was developed using an extremely small gap （0.1 mm） diode driven by a sub-nanosecond risetime, 10 kV rectangular pulse generator. A beam current of 5 A was detected by using a fast response Faraday cup at a distance of 2 cm away from a grid anode. The shot to shot variation of the electron beam pulse was less than 10%.

Surface alloying of Al films/Ti substrate based on high-current pulsed electron beams irradiation

Ti–Al surface alloy was fabricated using a cyclic pulsed liquid-phase mixing of predeposited 100 nm Al film with a-Ti substrate by low-energy high-current electron beam. Electron probe micro-analysis（EPMA）,grazing incidence X-ray diffraction analysis（GIXRD）,transmission electron microscopy（TEM）, and nanoindentation were used to investigate the characterization of Ti–Al surface alloy. The experimental results show that the thickness of alloy layer is ＊3 lm, and the content of Al in the ＊1 lm thickness surface layer is ＊60 at%. The tetragonal TiAl and TiAl2intermetallics were synthesized at the top surface, which have nanocrystalline structure.The main phase formed in the ＊2.5 lm thick surface is TiAl, and there are few TiAl2and Ti3Al phase for the alloy.Dislocation is enhanced in the alloyed layer. The nanohardness of Ti–Al surface alloy increased significantly compared with a-Ti substrate due to the nanostructure and enhanced dislocation. Since the e-beam remelted repeatedly, the Ti–Al surface alloy mixed sufficiently with Ti substrate. Moreover, there is no obvious boundary between the alloyed layer and substrate.

Research on the Surface Modification of Pure Zirconium by Electron Beam

In this paper, the changes of surface morphology, microstructure, hardness and corrosion resistance of industrial pure zirconium before and after surface modification by high current pulsed electron beam were discussed. The microstructure evolution and surface morphologies of the samples were characterized by using X-ray diffraction (XRD), optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The experimental results show that sample by high current pulsed electron beam treatment surface melting, martensitic phase transformation occurred, and volcanic crater morphology and fine microstructure in the remelted layer surface;with the increase of number of pulses, after processing the microhardness of the samples also with the increase, 15-pulsed sample microhardness than the original sample increased by 30.9%. Corrosion resistance of samples was studied with the impedance diagram and polarization curve. The electrochemical results show that corrosion resistance of samples by high current pulsed electron beam treatment presents different degrees of change, the 5-pulsed sample in 1 mol HNO3 solution corrosion of the best, and 15-pulsed sample corrosion resistance is even lower than the original sample. Grain refinement, martensite transformation, dislocation and deformation twins are the main reasons for improving the micro hardness and corrosion resistance of the samples.

Microstructure and properties of Nb/Ta multilayer films irradiated by a high current pulse electron beam

Nb/Ta multilayer films deposited on Ti6A14V substrate with Nb and Ta monolayer thicknesses of 30 nm, 120 nm, and 240 nm were irradiated by a high current pulse electron beam （HCPEB） to prepare Nb-Ta alloyed layers. The mi- crostructure and the composition of the outmost surface of melted alloyed layers were investigated using a transmission electron microscope （TEM） equipped with an X-ray energy dispersive spectrometer （EDS） attachment. The Ta content of the alloyed surface layer prepared from the monolayer of thickness 30 nm, 120 nm, and 240 nm was- 27.7 at.%, 6.37 at.%, and 0 at.%, respectively. It was found that the Ta content in the alloyed layer plays a dominant role in the microstructure of the films. The hardness and the wear rate of the alloyed layers decrease with the increasing content of Ta in the surface laver.

Forward acceleration and generation of femtosecond megaelectronvolt electron beams by an ultrafast intense laser pulse

We present a new mechanism of energy gain of electrons accelerated by a laser pulse. It is shown that when the intensity of an Tiltrafast intense laser pulse decreases rapidly along the direction of propagation, electrons leaving the pulse experience an action of ponderomotive deceleration at the descending part of a lower-intensity laser field than acceleration at the ascending part of a high-intensity field, thus gain net energy from the pulse and move directly forward. By means of such a mechanism, a megaelectronvolt electron beam with a bunch length shorter than 100 fs could be realized with an ultrafast (≤30 fs), intense (≥1019 W/cm2) laser pulse.