A Study on the Corrosion Resistance of Free Cutting Steels after Oxy-Nitriding

Nitriding or carburizing of carbon steels results in good mechanical properties such as high surface hardness and wear resistance but it has no affection on the corrosion resistance. Corrosion properties of nitriding and carburizing steels could be deteriorated. So, recently, there have been great demand for oxi-nitriding to enhance both mechanical properties and corrosion resistance. In this study, the corrosion resistance of carbon steel, S35C, and free cutting steel, SUM222, are prepared by vacuum nitriding and vacuum post-oxidation were compared with those treated by nitriding. After vacuum post-oxidation, $5{\mu}m$ oxide layer was formed on the nitride layer with $20{\sim}30{\mu}m$ depth. Potentio-dynamic polarization curve in corrosion test showed that the corrosion potential after post oxidation was increased from 200 mV to 800 mV in S35C and from 600 mV to 1200 mV in SUM222. SEM analyses showed that pores was increased and surface roughness became rougher with post oxidation. However, the formation of $Fe_3O_4$ resulted in the enhanced corrosion resistance of steels.

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