Abstract
High energy ion beam surface treatments were applied to a selected group of polymers. Of the six materials in the present study, four were thermoplastics (polycarbonate, polyethylene, polyethylene terephthalate, and polystyrene) and two were thermosets (epoxy and polyimide). The particular epoxy evaluated in this work is one of the resins used in formulating fiber reinforced composites for military helicopter blades. Measures of mechanical properties of the near surface regions were obtained by nanoindentation hardness and pin on disk wear. Attempts were also made to measure erosion resistance by particle impact. All materials were hardness tested. Pristine materials were very soft, having values in the range of approximately 0.1 to 0.5 GPa. Ion beam treatment increased hardness by up to 50 times compared to untreated materials. For reference, all materials were hardened to values higher than those typical of stainless steels. Wear tests were carried out on three of the materials, PET, PI and epoxy. On the ion beam treated epoxy no wear could be detected, whereas the untreated material showed significant wear.
