The fabrication and high temperature stability of biaxially textured Ni tape by ion beam structure modification method

For the conventional rolling assisted biaxially textured metallic substrate (RABiTS) process, a large degree of cold rolling deformation and a subsequent high temperature annealing procedure are required to obtain adequately biaxially textured Ni tape. Recently, we have reported a newly developed process, named as ion beam structure modification (ISM), for fabricating biaxially textured Ni tape by use of low energy argon ion beam bombardment. In this paper, the biaxial texture of ISM processed Ni tape and its thermal stability at high temperatures are investigated. Results show that Ni tape processed under optimum ISM conditions, the (200) rocking curve FWHM is less than 5.7°, and the (111) φ-scan FWHM is less than 7.5°. High temperature annealing does not impair the biaxial-texture already developed in ISM processed Ni foils, although ISMs should not be regarded as a complete equilibrium process.