Tribological study of vanadium-based alloys ion implanted at low energy and high temperature

This paper reports the improvements achieved in the tribological performance of V 5 at% Ti vanadium-based alloy ion implanted with nitrogen at low energy. Nitrogen ion implantation was carried out at 400degreesC with a current density of I mA/cm(2) and an accelerating voltage of 1.2 kV. Nanoindentation tests showed hardness increases by a factor close to 3. Ball-on-disk tests showed a decrease in friction coefficient. The thickness of the active implanted layer estimated from the nanoindentation tests is close to 500 run. A clear correlation between the improvement in the tribological properties: hardness, friction and wear and the implanted layer has been observed. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.