Surface hardening and enhancement of Corrosion Resistance of AISI 310S Austenitic Stainless Steel by Low Temperature Plasma Nitrocarburizing treatment.

A corrosion resistance and hard nitrocarburized layer was distinctly formed on 310 austenitic stainless steel substrate by DC plasma nitrocarburizing. Basically, 310L austenitic stainless steel has high chromium and nickel content which is applicable for high temperature applications. In this experiment, plasma nitrocarburizing was performed in a D.C. pulsed plasma ion nitriding system at different temperatures in $H_2-N_2-CH_4$ gas mixtures. After the experiment structural phases, micro-hardness and corrosion resistance were investigated by the optical microscopy, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, micro-hardness testing and Potentiodynamic polarization tests. The hardness of the samples was measured by using a Vickers micro hardness tester with the load of 100 g. XRD indicated a single expanded austenite phase was formed at all treatment temperatures. Such a nitrogen and carbon supersaturated layer is precipitation free and possesses a high hardness and good corrosion resistance.