Investigation of Fe-Mg alloys produced by ion implantation

Iron and magnesium are insoluble elements with each other
and there is no phase diagram. However, it is possible to produce artificial
alloys by ion implantation, in this study by iron implantation into magnesium.
Samples are investigated by conversion electron Mössbauer spectroscopy,
Auger electron spectroscopy and x-ray diffraction. While at low doses gaussian
shaped iron profiles and paramagnetic doublets as Mössbauer spectra
are obtained, the iron concentration reaches at the highest dose 90 at.-%
in maximum and the Mössbauer spectrum shows a dominant ferromagnetic
fraction. The x-ray diffraction pattern let conclude that a dilated a-iron
lattice is formed. Microhardness of all samples is clearly increased due
to the implantation.