VT6 TITANIUM ALLOY WEARABILITY INCREASE VIA IMPLANTATION OF COPPER AND ALUMINUM IONS

The relevance of the article is due to the fact that the use of titanium alloys within friction joints is restrained by their low resistance to wear while traditional methods of increasing their wear resistance are ineffective. The objective of this work was to study the processes occurring on the surface of VT6 titanium alloy samples when implanting with copper and aluminum ions, as well as in friction. Elemental composition, structural-phase state, mechanical and tribological properties of VT6 titanium alloy surface layers modified by aluminum and copper ions during the high-intensity ion-implantation process was being researched. As can be seen from the undertaken studies, the mode of the high-intensity ion-implantation process makes it possible to obtain ion doped surface layers of VT6 alloy containing TiAl, Ti3Al, Ti3Cu, Ti2Cu, TiCu finely dispersed intermetallic phases and a solid solution of aluminum and copper in titanium of composition varying in depth. The thickness of the ion-doped layer, the average grain size of the intermetallic phases (from 18 to 55nm) and their conglomerates (from 45 to 280 nm) increases with the increase in implantation dose from 2.1017 to 1.2.1019 ion/cm2 while aluminum implantation (from 0.42 to 2.1 mu m) is in progress. It has been shown that the implantation of aluminum and copper ions into VT6 alloy leads to a considerable increase in its microhardness and wearability. Based on the research results, a conclusion on the positive effect of a structural-phase state of ion-doped titanium layers on their mechanical and tribological properties of VT6 titanium alloy has been drawn.