Formation of Fe–Cr–Al–Zr Surface Alloy on a Zirconium Substrate Using a Low-Energy High-Current Electron Beam

Patterns on the formation of Fe–Cr–Al–Zr surface alloy on a Zr substrate are presented. The procedure was carried out by alternating magnetron deposition of Fe–Cr–Al films and their subsequent processing with low-energy high-current electron beams. The influence of the energy density on the morphology evolution of both chemical and phase compositions as well as the microstructure of the Fe–Cr–Al–Zr surface alloys were studied. The applied energy parameters led to partial or complete mixing of the deposited films with the substrates. In the first case, the surface alloy possessed both recrystallized layers of the deposited Fe–Cr–Al films and Fe–Cr–Al–Zr transition ones. With complete mixing of the deposited films and the substrates, the nanostructured Fe-Cr-Al-Zr surface alloys were observed. During high-temperature annealing, mutual diffusion rates of the constituent elements between the surface alloy and the substrates were lower by 3–15 times than those in the interface between the initially deposited films and the substrates.