Abstract
A study has been made of the influence of ion implantation of yttrium and dysprosium upon the thermal oxidation behaviour of two different stainless steels. The oxidation experiments were made in dry oxygen (1 atm pressure) at 876°C (Y+ implant) and at temperatures between 206 and 1093 °C (Dy+ implant) for a period of 30 min. The oxidation behaviour and impurity distributions were studied using the l6O(d, p)017* nuclear reaction and Rutherford backscattering. Implantation of Y ions reduced the oxidation of the austenitic steel by up to ∼50%, but proved to be (on average) detrimental to the MA956 alloy. 40 keV, 3 × 1015 Dy+/cm2 implantation into the austenitic steel also reduced its subsequent oxidation by up to ∼50% at intermediate temperatures.