High dislocation density structures and hardening produced by high fluency pulsed-ion-beam implantation

The paper presents a review of experimental data on the “long-range effect” (a change in dislocation structure and in physicomechanical properties at distances considerably greater than the ion range value in ion-implanted metallic materials and semiconductors). Our results of electron microscopy studies of high density dislocation structure in ion-implanted metallic materials with different initial states are given. It has been shown that the nature of the dislocation structure and its quantitative characteristics in the implanted metals and alloys depend on the target initial state, the ion type and energy and the retained dose. The data obtained by different workers are in good agreement both with our results and with each other as well as with the results of investigation of macroscopic characteristics (wear resistance and microhardness). It has been established that the “long-range effect” occurs in metallic materials with a low yield point or high plasticity level and with little dislocation density in their initial state prior to ion implantation.