Composition and microstructure of surface layers produced by ion beam assisted deposition of metals from a pulsed arc-discharge plasma onto aluminum substrates

Abstract

Ion beam assisted deposition of alloying metals (Zn, Cd, Zr, Cr) onto pure aluminum and aluminum alloy substrates from the plasma of a pulsed arc discharge for the purpose of materials corrosion stability was carried out. The Rutherford backscattering spectrometry, electron backscatter difiraction, scanning electron microscopy, and electron probe microanalysis methods were applied to investigate composition and microstructure of the prepared layers. It was found that the obtained layers are characterized by amorphous atomic structure and contain the atoms of deposited metal, substrate material components, as well as impurities of oxygen and carbon; their thickness was measured to be 30-100 nm.