Engineering the tube size for an inner surface modification by plasma-based ion implantation

In order to apply the inner surface modification of the tube component by plasma-based ion implantation (PBII) technique, the tube size has been characterized by introducing a characteristic parameter – the critical radius of tube (CRT) to optimize the process parameters of a grid-enhanced PBII technique for the nitrogen ion implantation onto the inner surface of an Fe–Cr–Ni stainless steel tube under the process conditions, including the plasma density of central plasma source, the steady pulse voltage, the grid electrode radius, and the processing pressure. The temporal sheath dynamics of the ion matrix sheath on the inner surface of the tube component modified by PBII were demonstrated by the collisional fluid model using the equations of ion continuity and ion motion, Poisson’s equation, and Boltzmann’s relationship of electron to determine the effective range of the process parameters. The optimum process parameters were found by the effect factors of the CRT which was bounded by the two important process parameters, i.e. the ion implantation dose and the processing time, for the engineering practice due to the available dependence on the surface modification effect in suitable costs.