Enhanced wear and corrosion resistance of plasma electrolytic carburized layer on T8 carbon steel

• Electron temperature in plasma electrolytic carburizing process is determined.
• Diffusion coefficient of carbon in PEC is higher than conventional carburizing.
• Wear and corrosion resistance of T8 steel are both improved after PEC treatment.
• Pitting corrosion of steel substrate is obviously suppressed by PEC treatment.

A hardening layer of 70 μm on T8 carbon steel was fabricated by plasma electrolytic carburizing (PEC) in glycerol solution at 380 V with 3 min treatment. The discharge process was characterized using optical emission spectroscopy (OES), and the electron temperature in plasma envelope was determined. Meanwhile, diffusion coefficient of carbon was calculated on the basis of carbon concentration profile. The tribological property of carburized steel under dry sliding against ZrO2 ball was measured by a ball-disc friction and wear tester. The corrosion behaviors were evaluated by potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). It was found that the carburized layer mainly contained α-Fe and Fe3C phases with maximum hardness of 620 HV. The PEC treatment significantly decreased the friction coefficient from 0.4 to 0.1. The wear rate of PEC treated steel was about 5.86 × 10−6 mm3/N·m, which was less than 1/4 of T8 steel substrate. After PEC treatment, the wear and corrosion resistance of T8 steel were improved. Particularly, the pitting corrosion of steel substrate was obviously suppressed.