from the conferences organized by TANGER Ltd.
Surface integrity plays a key role in the surface modifications and coating processes that provide high and long-term performance of the treated components. Argon ion bombardment is widely used in many surface modification processes and for surface pre-treatment. The effect of argon sputter cleaning on the residual stress, hardness and surface morphology of commercially pure titanium is investigated in this work. Titanium samples were mechanically polished and then etched by argon ions. The thickness of the sputtered layer was measured by a quartz thickness monitor. The hardness was investigated by nanoindentation, the residual stress was measured by X-ray diffraction, and the surface morphology was monitored by atomic force microscopy. Removal of the surface layer by argon ion bombardment caused a decrease in residual stress and a decrease in hardness. Uneven sputtering of grains resulted in increased surface roughness. The observed changes in surface properties increased with increasing thickness of the removed layer.
Keywords: Keywords: Ion etching, Morphology, Residual stress, Hardness© This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.