Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
1676728 | Thin Solid Films | 2006 | 8 Pages |
Recent research carried out in laboratories showed that Saddle field neutral fast atom beam source is a promising method for nitriding of stainless steel. In the present work, the effect of treatment time on the microstructural and mechanical properties of plasma-nitrided stainless steel sample was investigated by this new method. Plasma nitriding was carried out at 420 °C and at a pressure of 0.1 Pa for a time range of 1 to 12 h. SEM–EDX, microhardness tests, optical microscopy and X-ray diffraction (XRD) were used to evaluate the mechanical and structural properties of the nitrided layer. It was found that nitriding time has a pronounced effect on the structural and mechanical properties of low-temperature plasma-nitrided samples and produced a precipitation-free thin hard nitrided layer within a short processing time.