Surface Morphology and Phase Stability of Titanium Foils Irradiated by 136 MeV 136Xe

TL;DR

This study investigates how high-energy Xe ion irradiation affects titanium foils, revealing phase transformation and microstructural damage such as voids and dislocation features.

Contribution

It provides new insights into phase stability and microstructure evolution of titanium under high-energy ion irradiation.

Findings

Titanium transforms from alpha-Ti to face centered cubic phase after irradiation.

Irradiation causes formation of voids, hillocks, and dislocation structures.

Phase transformation occurs at a dose of 2.2 x 10^15 ions/cm^2.

Abstract

A stack of titanium foils was irradiated with 136 MeV 136Xe to study microstructure damage and phase stability of titanium upon irradiation. X- ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy were used to study the resulting microstructure damage and phase stability of titanium. We observed the phase transfor- mation of polycrystalline titanium from alpha-Ti (hexagonally closed packed (hcp)) to face centered cubic (fcc) after irradiation with 2.2 x 1015 ions/cm2. Irradiation of Ti with 1.8 x 1014-2.2 x 1015 ions/cm2 resulted in the forma- tion of voids, hillocks, dislocation loops, dislocation lines, as well as polygonal ridge networks.