The specimens were implanted with aluminum ions with fluence ranging from 1× 10^16 to 1× 10^17 ions/cm^2 to study the effect of aluminum ion implantation on the aqueous corrosion behavior of zircaloy-2 by metal vapor vacuum arc source (MEVVA) at an extraction voltage of 40 kV. The valence states and depth distributions of elements in the surface layer of the samples were analyzed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Auger electron spectroscopy (AES), respectively. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was used to examine the microstructure of the aluminum-implanted samples. Glancing angle X-ray diffraction (GAXRD) was employed to examine the phase transformation due to the aluminum ion implantation. The potentiodynamic polarization technique was employed to evaluate the aqueous corrosion resistance of implanted zircaloy-2 in a 1 M H2SO4 solution. It is found that a significant improvement was achieved in the aqueous corrosion resistance of zircaloy-2 implanted with aluminum ions. Finally, the mechanism of the corrosion behavior of aluminum- implanted zircaloy-2 was discussed.
To simulate irradiation damage, argon ion was implanted in the Zircaloy-4 with the fluence ranging from 1 × 10^16 to 1 × 10^17 cm^-2, using accelerating implanter at an extraction voltage of 190 kV and liquid nitrogen temperature. Then the influence of argon ion implantation on the aqueous corrosion behavior of Zircaloy-4 was studied. The valence states of elements in the surface layer of the samples were analyzed using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was used to examine the microstructure of the argon-implanted samples. The potentiodynamic polarization technique was employed to evaluate the aqueous corrosion resistance of implanted Zircaloy-4 in 1 mol/L HzSO4 solution. It is found that there appear bubbles on the surface of the samples when the argon fluence is 1 × 10^16 cm^-2. The microstructure of argon-implanted samples changes from amorphous to partial amorphous, then to polycrystalline, and again to amorphous. The corrosion resistance of implanted samples linearly declines with the increase of fluence approximately, which is attributed to the linear increase of the irradiation damage.
In order to study the effect of copper ion implantation on the aqueous corrosion behavior of ZIRLO alloy, specimens were implanted with copper ions with fluences ranging from 1×10^16 to 1×10^ ions/cm^2, using a metal vapor vacuum arc source (MEVVA) at an extraction voltage of 40 kV, The valence states and depth distributions of elements in the surface layer of the samples were analyzed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Auger electron spectroscopy (AES), respectively. Glancing angle X-ray diffraction (GAXRD) was employed to examine the phase transformation due to the copper ion implantation. The potcntiodynamic polarization technique was used to evaluate the aqueous corrosion resistance of implanted ZIRLO alloy in a 1 mol/L H2SO4 solution. It was found that a significant improvement was achieved in the aqueous corrosion resistance of ZIRLO alloy implanted with copper ions when the fluence is 5×10^16 ions/cm^2. When the fluence is 1×10^16 or 1×10^17 ions/cm^2, the corrosion resistance of implanted sanaples was bad. Finally, the mechanism of the corrosion behavior of copper-implanted ZIRLO alloy was discussed.