Polycrystalline titanium samples were implanted with N+ ions at high fluences and at several energies. The aim was to obtain 4000 Â thick nitrided layers of constant nominal concentration equal to 20% ,30%, and 40%.
The results obtained by RBS showed a flat nitrogen distribution with depth and the measured concentrations were respectively 20%,31% and 38%.
X-ray grazing incidence diffraction indicated that, at 20%, a nitrogen solid solution is formed in the a-Ti matrix. At 31% the nitrogen solid solution is present besides a 5-TiN phase and at 38% only the 5-TiN phase remains.
From nanoindentation measurements, we derived the depth-related hardness and Young's modulus of the implanted samples. These values were compared to those found on titanium nitride layers obtained with other coating techniques.