Oxidation resistance of the surface layers in the Nb/Ti system treated by compression plasma flows

Abstract

Compression plasma flows (CPF) are strongly directed flows of dense plasma (charge particles concentration up to 1017 -1018 cm -3) compressed by the own magnetic field moving with a large velocity /1/. The CPF is a promising tool for structure and property modifications of surface layers of materials /2/. One of CPF peculiarities is a relatively high duration of the flow stable form that achieves up to 100 μs. When the CPF influencing to different materials at absorbed energy density in the range of 13 – 35 J/cm2 , the surface layer of the material is melted and the life-time of the melted state is comparable with the pulse duration. In this case the role of the liquid phase processes increases. In /3/ the possibility of alloying of the surface layers of the materials with other metals by means of CPF impact was shown. In this paper we proposed to use CPF to create a modified surface layer in titanium alloyed with niobium atoms and which has a higher oxidation resistance.