Proton implantation effect on (SUS-316) stainless steel

Microstructural damage and nano hardness of the industrial grade stainless steel (SUS-316) have been studied under proton (H⁺) implanted condition applying different doses at room temperature. The implantation scheme such as proton energy, fluence, irradiation time, and penetration depth in the target materials were estimated by Monte Carlo Simulation Code SRIM-2008. In the simulation, the parameters were chosen in such a way that the damage density (displacement per atom or dpa) would be uniform up to certain depth from the surface. X-ray diffraction study of the annealed samples prior to the proton implantation showed the austenitic fcc structure and no significant change was observed after proton implantation in it. Microstructural observation made by Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy (STEM) revealed that 1 dpa of proton-irradiation induced the structural damage extended up to 1 μm depth from the surface. The nano hardness study showed that the hardness level of the irradiated samples increased monotonically with the irradiation doses. Proton dose of 1 dpa caused 65% increment of hardness level on average in case of uniformly irradiated samples. It was realized that the increment of hardness was a consequence of microstructural damages caused by the formation of interstitial dislocation loops in the sample matrix keeping the lattice structure unaffected