Modifications in surface, structural and mechanical properties of brass using laser induced Ni plasma as an ion source

Laser induced Ni plasma has been employed as source of ion implantation for surface, structural and mechanical properties of brass. Excimer laser (248 nm, 20 ns, 120mJ and 30 Hz) was used for the generation of Ni plasma. Thomson parabola technique was employed to estimate the energy of generated ions using CR39 as a detector. In response to stepwise increase in number of laser pulses from 3000 to 12000, the ion dose varies from 60 × 1013 to 84 × 1016 ions/cm2 with constant energy of 138 KeV. SEM analysis reveals the growth of nano/micro sized cavities, pores, pits, voids and cracks for the ion dose ranging from 60 × 1013 to 70 × 1015 ions/cm2. However, at maximum ion dose of 84 × 1016 ions/cm2 the granular morphology is observed. XRD analysis reveals that new phase of CuZnNi (200) is formed in the brass substrate after ion implantation. However, an anomalous trend in peak intensity, crystallite size, dislocation line density and induced stresses is observed in response to the implantation with various doses. The increase in ion dose causes to decrease the Yield Stress (YS), Ultimate Tensile Strength (UTS) and hardness. However, for the maximum ion dose the highest values of these mechanical properties are achieved. The variations in the mechanical properties are correlated with surface and crystallographical changes of ion implanted brass.