Dry sliding tribological behavior of AZ31 magnesium alloy irradiated by high-intensity pulsed ion beam

The dry sliding tribological behavior of AZ31 magnesium alloy irradiated by high-intensity pulsed ion beam (HIPIB) at energy density of 3.4 J/cm² with 10 shots is investigated by dry sliding wear tests in order to explore the effect of HIPIB irradiation on tribological property of magnesium alloy. Surface morphologies, composition and structure of the irradiated AZ31 magnesium alloys are examined by electron probe microanalysis (EPMA) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The results indicated that HIPIB irradiation led to the increase in surface microhardness and the reduction in friction coefficient and wear rate. Wear rate for both the original and the irradiated samples increased with increasing sliding load from 0.1 to 0.5 N. The transition from severe metallic wear to mild oxidative wear induced by HIPIB irradiation was observed by a combined analysis in surface morphology and chemical composition of wear tracks, mechanically mixed materials and wear debris, which is mainly attributed to the significant increase in microhardness resulting from grain refinement on the irradiated surface. In addition, defects induced by HIPIB irradiation promoted the diffusion of oxygen during sliding wear and therefore led to the formation of compact mixed materials and protective films on the wear tracks surface, which also contributes to the transition in wear mechanism of AZ31 magnesium alloy induced by HIPIB irradiation.