published_or_final_version / Physics / Master / Master of Philosophy

Various processes that participate in ion beam surface modification are studied using phenomenological, analytical and first principle models. The processes that are modelled phenomenologically include preferential sputtering, radiation-damage induced migration and second phase precipitation. The models are based on numerical solutions of the transport equation and include the processes of ion collection, sputtering, lattice dilation or accommodation and diffusion as well. The model for preferential sputtering takes into account the depletion of the preferentially sputtered element at the surface and the atomic transport process that results from the concentration gradients caused by the depletion. Results are presented for the case of Ta implantation into Fe. ln the radiation-damage induced migration the flux of the solute atoms is coupled to the concentration gradient of the continuously introduced defects. Examples of implantation of Sn into Fe and N into Fe are modeled to demonstrate the influence of radiation-damage induced migration. The precipitation of second phases during irradiation is modelled using thermodynamic considerations but with solubility values under irradiation obtained from experiment. In the model the solute atoms in excess of the solubility limit are assumed to precipitate out. Calculations are presented for the case of N implantation into Nb. Using first principle calculation for binary collisions in solids a computer simulation code was developed to study the collisional mixing occurring during high fluence ion implantation. It is based on the Monte Carlo code TRIM, and is capable of updating the target composition as the implantation process proceeds to high fluences. The physical basis for the dynamic simulation as well as a detailed analysis on the statistics required for obtaining the profiles with a given accuracy are presented. Vectorized results in a high computational efficiency. The predicted collisional broadening of the implantation profiles is presented for Ar bombardment into a Sn-Fe target as well as Ti implantation into C-Fe. The results are compared to those of the diffusion approximation. A semi-empiricaI model based on an analytical evaluation of ion mixing at low temperatures was developed taking into account collisional mixing and thermal spike effects, as well as the thermal spike shape. The ion beam mixing parameter for the thermal spike is derived as being proportional to different powers of the damage parameter, i.e. the damage energy scaled by the cohesive energy of the matrix, dependent on the thermal spike shape and point defect density in the thermal spike regions. Three different regions of ion beam induced mixing were recognized according to different density levels of the damage parameter. An experiment was conducted to determine the effect of chemical or thermodynamic factors in the migration of C in the presence of Fe and Ti atoms. A marker layer of C in a Fe-Ti matrix was ion beam mixed using Ar. The large mixing effect is tentatively attributed to a favorable heat of mixing values. / Ph. D.

This thesis represents one phase of a joint effort of research on the properties of liquids and solids. This work is concerned primarily with the microwave properties of solids. In this investigation the properties exhibited by conductor and semiconductor materials when they are subjected to electromagnetic radiation of microwave frequency are studied. The method utilized in this experiment is the perturbation of a resonant cavity produced by introduction of a cylindrically shaped sample into it.

Initially the present study was confined to the effects of ultraviolet irradiation on acid-soluble collagen. Such a study was undertaken in order to demonstrate the critical role played by tyrosine and phenylalanine in the intermolecular interaction of the telopeptides protruding from the rigid parent collagen molecule. Since both tyrosine and phenylalanine are photosensitive, and because the collagen telopeptides are relatively rich in these aromatic amino acids, carefully controlled degradation studies involving telopeptide liberation could be made. It became increasingly apparent during the course of investigation, that a better understanding of the subunit composition of thermally denatured acid-soluble collagen was necessary if a satisfactory interpretation of the irradiation studies was to be made. A subsequent study of the subunit composition of thermally denatured acid-soluble collagen resulted in the isolation and characterisation of two major and two minor dimeric components as well as the α- and β - subunits. Three acidic telopeptides and three basic telopeptides were also isolated from acid-soluble collagen during the course of the present study. The presence of the dimeric components while related directly to the method of preparation, suggested that acid-soluble collagen was largely dimeric in nature. Such a conclusion suggested an intermolecular rather than an intraolecular relationship between neutral-salt-soluble and acid-soluble collagen. While it is currently accepted that an intramolecular relationship exists between neutral-salt-soluble and acid-soluble collagen, such a relationship does not satisfactorily explain the very different solubility characteristics displayed by these soluble collagen extracts. With this in mind, and using the study on the subunit composition of thermally denatured acid-soluble collagen as a basis for comparison, the intra and intermolecular relationship between neutral-salt-soluble and acid-soluble collagen was investigated using ultraviolet and gamma irradiation. The effects of ultraviolet and gamma irradiation on soluble collagen preparations proved very similar. Although collagen samples were irradiated in solution from an ultraviolet source; and under anhydrous conditions from a gamma source, much the same degradation mechanism resulted. The initial depolymerisation of dimeric material followed by peptide fission, yielding irradiation-resistant crystalline portions of the parent triple helix, took place in both instances. At the same time, both studies indicated no significant differences in the intra or intermolecular structures of the neutral-salt-soluble and acid-soluble preparations investigated. The dimer content of neutral-salt-soluble collagen preparations was, however, noted to be smaller. To current methods for the preparation of soluble collagens, it may be concluded that such preparations are peptideless to some degree. While the native tropocollagen monomer with its full complement of telopeptide side chains may actively undergo linear polymerisation resulting in fibre formation, the soluble collagen preparations referred to above may only aggregate in a rather random fashion.

One of the primary objects of this research was to determine, if possible, the nature of the radiation damage prior to thermal decomposition. The X-ray study has not wholly achieved this although more information has been derived from it than from similar work on AgMnO₄ However, the diffuse reflections obtained do indicate, quite strongly, the creation of point defects during irradiation. This is of value since such assumptions have been made in the explanation of the kinetics of decomposition of a number of irradiated solids (BaN₆,CaN₆). In addition the X-ray work has suggested future research which should produce useful information; namely, a precise study of the diffuse reflections. Another object of the research was to attempt to determine what characteristics, if any, of the kinetics of the decomposition of an unirradiated solid would predetermine a marked irradiation effect. It is obvious that the type of nuclear growth which occurs e.g. branching chain, or power law, does not characterise a substance with regard to a possible irradiation effect . The photosensitivity, or otherwise, also does not determine whether there will be an irradiation effect. However, the one property that the substances which have been studied, have in common, is a polyatomic anion, but here again ammonium dichromate does not show an acceleration of the decomposition after irradiation. Consequently it is considered that it is not possible to say, a priori, whether a solid will undergo an accelerated decomposition after irradiation. Each new solid, unless it belongs to a particular class e.g. the alkaline earth azides , must be considered afresh. Nevertheless it does appear that the irradiation effect can take two forms: - (i) the production of an unstable compound e.g. nickel oxalate, the decomposition of which affects the normal pyrolysis; and (ii) the production of point defects which determine the nature of the subsequent thermal decomposition e.g . CaN₆ . It is possible that the effect requires an interaction of the created point defects with the existing line defects.

In the course of experiments using uniaxial double alignment channeling to investigate radiation damage in single crystals, an anomalously large ion-scattering yield from the near surface of disordered or simulated disordered solid targets was observed. The chronology of the discovery of this new ion-solid effect and its explanation are presented along with experiments detailing the dependence of the new effect upon ion type and energy, as well as target atomic number and density. Targets included a spectrum of polycrystalline elemental targets in a range Z = 29 to Z = 82. Also, the influence of the effect upon scattering yields from an aligned Au(110) single crystal is demonstrated.