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US5532495A
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Methods and apparatus for altering material using ion beams
Assignee: ENERGY DEPARTMENT OF UNITED STATES
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Filing: 1994-10-04
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Granted: 1996-07-02
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Expires: 2014-10-04
Abstract
Abstract A method and apparatus for treating material surfaces using a repetitively pulsed ion beam. In particular, a method of treating magnetic material surfaces in order to reduce surface defects, and produce amorphous fine grained magnetic material with properties that can be tailored by adjusting treatment parameters of a pulsed ion beam. In addition to a method of surface treating materials for wear and corrosion resistance using pulsed particle ion beams.
Inventors
- 👤 Douglas D. Bloomquist
- 👤 Rudy Buchheit
- 👤 John B. Greenly
- 👤 Dale C. McIntyre
- 👤 Eugene L. Neau
- 👤 Regan W. Stinnett
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-23 17:01
CPC Classifications
C; C08; C08J; C08J7/00; C08J7/12; C08J7/123; B; B29; B29C; B29C59/00; B29C59/16; C23; C23C; C23C14/00; C23C14/22; C23C14/48; C23C8/00; C23C8/06; C23C8/36; H; H01; H01J; H01J27/00; H01J27/02; H01J27/08; H01J27/14; B29C35/00; B29C35/02; B29C35/08; B29C35/0866; B29C2035/0872; H01J2237/00; H01J2237/06; H01J2237/08; H01J2237/30; H01J2237/317; H01J2237/31701
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 33
Claim 1
Independent Claim
109 words
A process for uniformly altering a characteristic of a surface of a material to a depth of<several hundred microns comprising the step of irradiating a surface of the material with a repetitively pulsed ion beam from an ion beam source, wherein each pulse of the pulsed ion beam has a duration of ≦1000 ns at (an accelerating gap) between an anode electrode means and a cathode electrode means in the ion beam source, a total beam energy delivered to the material of >1 Joule/pulse, an impedance of <100Ω, a repetition rate of >1 Hz, an ion kinetic energy of >50 keV, and an ion penetration depth of <50 microns.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
109 words
A process for uniformly altering a characteristic of a surface of a material to a depth of<several hundred microns comprising the step of irradiating a surface of the material with a repetitively pulsed ion beam from an ion beam source, wherein each pulse of the pulsed ion beam has a duration of ≦1000 ns at (an accelerating gap) between an anode electrode means and a cathode electrode means in the ion beam source, a total beam energy delivered to the material of >1 Joule/pulse, an impedance of <100Ω, a repetition rate of >1 Hz, an ion kinetic energy of >50 keV, and an ion penetration depth of <50 microns.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
22 words
The process of claim 1 wherein the depth of ion penetration is controlled by controlling the kinetic energy of the ion beam.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
25 words
The process of claim 1 wherein the depth of ion penetration is controlled by controlling the atomic mass of the ions in the ion beam.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
25 words
The process of claim 1 wherein the depth of ion penetration is controlled by controlling the atomic number of the ions in the ion beam.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
21 words
The process of claim 1 wherein the characteristic is surface smoothness which is modified to a surface roughness of <0.5 microns.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
14 words
The process of claim 5 wherein the material is a fine grain, sintered material.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
13 words
The process of claim 5 wherein the surface is a food preparation surface.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
15 words
The process of claim 7 wherein the food preparation surface is a food cooking surface.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
13 words
The process of claim 5 wherein the material is an amorphous magnetic alloy.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
22 words
The process of claim 9 wherein the alloy has the approximate composition of Fe 66 Co 18 B 15 Si 1 .
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
16 words
The process of claim 1 wherein the surface characteristic is the presence of an unwanted contaminant.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
13 words
The process of claim 11 wherein the unwanted contaminant is a machining lubricant.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
12 words
The process of claim 11 wherein the unwanted contaminant is solder flux.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
12 words
The process of claim 11 wherein the unwanted contaminant is biological contamination.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
13 words
The process of claim 11 wherein the unwanted contaminant is a surface coating.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
42 words
The process of claim 1 wherein the total beam energy delivered to the material per pulse is >10 Joules/pulse and the surface characteristic to be altered is the presence of the top 1-2 microns of the material which is removed by ablation.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
26 words
The process of claim 1 wherein the total beam energy delivered to the material per pulse is >20 Joules/pulse and the surface characteristic is shock hardening.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
24 words
The process of claim 16 wherein the ablation produces vaporization of the surface of the material which redeposits upon the surface of the material.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
25 words
The process of claim 16 wherein the ablation produces vaporization of the surface of the material which redeposits upon a surface of a second material.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
27 words
The process of claim 16 further including protection of certain areas of the surface of the material by mask means which protect the surface from the ablation.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
14 words
The process of claim 1 wherein the surface characteristic to be altered is hardness.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
15 words
The process of claim 1 wherein the surface characteristic to be altered is corrosion resistance.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
10 words
The process of claim 22 wherein the material is steel.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
10 words
The process of claim 22 wherein the material comprises aluminum.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
20 words
The process of claim 23 wherein the material is stainless steel that has been heat treated to above 600° C.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
19 words
The process of claim 1 wherein the surface characteristic to be altered is resistance of welds to stress cracking.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
18 words
The process of claim 1 wherein the surface characteristic to be altered is resistance of welds to corrosion.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
21 words
The process of claim 1 wherein the surface characteristic to be altered is the formation of non-equilibrium structures within the surface.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
30 words
The process of claim 28 wherein the non-equilibrium structures are selected from the group consisting of amorphous structures, disordered crystalline structures, and nanocrystalline structures not present in the original material.
Claim 31
Dependent Claim
21 words
The process of claim 1 wherein the area of continuous and uniform alteration of the characteristic is >5 cm 2 .
Claim 32
Dependent Claim
39 words
The process of claim 1 wherein the ion species are selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, helium, oxygen, nitrogen fluorine, neon, chlorine, argon, lithium, beryllium, boron, carbon, sodium, magnesium, aluminum, silicon, phosphorous, sulfur, potassium and the isotopes thereof.
Claim 33
Dependent Claim
29 words
The process of claim 1 wherein the material is selected from the group consisting of intermetallic materials, amorphous materials, crystalline materials, nano-crystalline materials, dielectrics, polymers, semiconductors, ceramics and glasses.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
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