Effects of Zr ion implantation on crystal structure and nanoindentation behavior of TC18 titanium alloy

In this study, TC18 titanium alloy was ion implanted with Zr ions to a fluence of 3.56 × 1016, 5.53 × 1016 and 7.12 × 1016 ions cm−2. The surface morphologies were characterized by the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscope (AFM). The crystal structure of the Zr implanted TC18 titanium alloy was evaluated by the x-ray diffraction (XRD) and the corresponding calculations were used to analysis the nanoindentation behavior....