Irradiation of austenitic steel 10Cr12Mn14Ni4AlMo and titanium alloy Ti-Al-V by pulsed streams of fast nitrogen ions and plasma in a dense plasma focus

Austenitic steel 10Cr12Mn14Ni4AlMo and Ti-4Al-3V alloy were irradiated with nanosecond pulsed nitrogen ion and plasma streams in plasma focus devices. The two different modes of the treatment were applied: high power density (greater-than or equal to 10 8 W/cm2) irradiation with melting of the surface layer and irradiation with power density similar to 10 7 W/cm2 below the melting threshold. Structure and phase changes as well as the mechanisms of modification and hardening of the surface layers of the steel and titanium alloy upon applied irradiation are discussed.