Modification of AISI M2 steel tribological properties by means of plasma mixing

Changes in the phase and element composition, tribological properties of the Zr/AISI M2 steel system after treatment with compression plasma flows are studied in this work. It was found that the treatment resulted in the formation of a mixed layer containing atoms of a coating (Zr), a substrate (M2 steel) and a plasma-forming gas (N). The zirconium concentration in the mixed layer depends on treatment parameters. The ZrN formation in the surface layer provides microhardness increase, friction coefficient decrease and enhanced thermal stability of tribological properties.