Low Temperature Salt Bath Hardening of AISI 201 Austenitic Stainless Steel

Salt bath hardening at low temperature was applied in order to enhance the surface hardness of AISI 201 stainless steel. The structure and properties of the hardened layer were investigated, such as microstructure, hardness, wear resistance and corrosion resistance. The experiment results show that the treatment temperature plays an importance role in the microstructure and properties of the hardened layer. If the treatment temperature is below 460°C, the hardened layer was a face centre tetragonal (fct) structure without chromium nitride precipitation. The corrosion resistance of hardened layer is better than the matrix and as good as AISI 316 austenitic stainless steel. If the temperature rises above 460 °C the precipitation show up and the corrosion resistance gets worse. The hardness and thickness of the layer increase as the raising of treatment temperature. The test of wear resistance shows that the amount of wear reduces rapidly after hardening treatment and the worn morphology of the surface behaves abrasive wear while that of AISI 201 stainless steel behaves adhesive wear.