Enhancement of mechanical property and corrosion resistance of 316Â L stainless steels by low temperature arc plasma nitriding

The worn surfaces revealed that worn behavior of the low current (below 85 A) nitrided samples was remarkably dominated by micro-abrasion and spalling holes, while the 95 A sample was worn in a mode featured by cracks and spalling blocks. Besides, because chromium nitride precipitation was eliminated, the nitrided samples still showed excellent corrosion resistance, which was comparable to untreated 316 L SS.