• 열처리공학회지
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• 제24권1호
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• pp.3-9
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• 2011

Plasma nitriding of stainless steels has been investigated over a range of temperature from 400 to $500^{\circ}C$ and time from 10 to 20 hours. Characterization of systematic materials was carried out in terms of mechanical properties and corrosion behaviors. The results showed that plasma nitriding conducted at low temperatures not only increased the surface hardness, but also improved the corrosion resistance of STS 316L, STS409L, and STS 420J2. It was found that plasma-nitriding treatment at $500^{\circ}C$ resulted in increasing the corrosion performance of STS 409L and STS 420J2, while STS 316L was observed with server and massive damage on surface due to the formation of CrN.

• 대한금속재료학회지
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• 제47권10호
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• pp.629-634
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• 2009

The effects of processing parameters on the surface properties of the hardened layers processed by the low temperature plasma nitrocarburizing and the low temperature two-step plama treatment (carburizing+nitriding) were investigated. The nitrogen-enriched expanded austenite structure (${\gamma}_N$) or S phase was formed on all of the treated surface. The surface hardness reached up to 1200 $HV_{0.025}$, which is about 5 times higher than that of untreated sample (250 $HV_{0.1}$). The thickness of hardened layer of the low temperature plasma nitrocarburized layer treated at $400^{\circ}C$ for 40 hour was only $15{\mu}m$, while the layer thicknesss in the two-step plama treatment for the 30 hour treatment increased up to about $30{\mu}m$. The surface thickness and hardness increased with increasing treatment temperature and time. In addition, the corrosion resistance was enhanced than untreated samples due to a high concentration of N on the surface. However, higher treatment temperature and longer treatment time resulted in the formation of $Cr_2N$ precipitates, which causes the degradation of corrosion resistance.

• 한국표면공학회지
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• 제37권1호
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• pp.53-57
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• 2004

Austenitic stainless steel AISI 304 was nitrided in a low-pressure RF plasma using pure nitrogen. With a treatment of time of 4.0h at $400^{\circ}C$, the nitrogen-rich layer on the sample was $3\mu\textrm{m}$thick and had a hardness of approximately 4.4 times higher than that of untreated material. XRD data showed that as the process temperature rose from 350∼$450^{\circ}C$, the expanded austenite peaks became more prominent while the austenite peaks became weaker. Expanded austenite was transformed to ferrite and CrN at the treatment of$ 500^{\circ}C$. Langmuir probe measurements showed that electron density decreased above $450^{\circ}C$.

• 한국표면공학회지
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• 제42권3호
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• pp.116-121
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• 2009

The 2-step low temperature plasma processes (the combined carburizing and post-nitriding) offer the increase of both surface hardness and thickness of hardened layer and corrosion resistance than the individually processed low temperature nitriding and low temperature carburizing techniques. The 2-step low temperature plasma processes were carried out for improving both the surface hardness and corrosion resistance of AISI 316L stainless steel. The influence of gas compositions on the surface properties during nitriding step were investigated. The expanded austenite (${\gamma}_N$) was formed on all of the treated surface. The thickness of ${\gamma}_N$ and concentration of N on the surface increased with increasing both nitrogen gas and Ar gas levels in the atmosphere. The thickness of ${\gamma}_N$ increased up to about $20{\mu}m$ and the thickness of entire hardened layer was determined to be about $40{\mu}m$. The surface hardness was independent of nitrogen and Ar gas contents and reached up to about 1200 $HV_{0.1}$ which is about 5 times higher than that of untreated sample (250 $HV_{0.1}$). The corrosion resistance in 2-step low temperature plasma processed austenitic stainless steels was also much enhanced than that in the untreated austenitic stainless steels due to a high concentration of N on the surface.

• 한국표면공학회지
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• 제48권6호
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• pp.269-274
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• 2015

In this experiment, post-nitriding treatment was performed at $400^{\circ}C$ on AISI 316 stainless steel which was plasma carburized previously at $430^{\circ}C$ for 15 hours. Plasma nitriding was implemented on AISI 316 stainless steel at various gas compositions (25% $N_2$, 50% $N_2$ and 75% $N_2$) for 4 hours. Additionally, during post nitriding Ar gas was used with $H_2$ and $N_2$ to observe the improvement of surface properties. After treatment, the behavior of the hybrid layer was investigated by optical microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and micro-hardness testing. Potentiodynamic polarization test was also used to evaluate the corrosion resistance of the samples. Meanwhile, it was found that the surface hardness increased with increasing the nitrogen gas content. Also small percentage of Ar gas was introduced in the post nitriding process which improved the hardness of the hardened layer but reduced the corrosion resistance compared with the carburized sample. The experiment revealed that AISI 316L stainless steel showed better hardness and excellent corrosion resistance compared with the carburized sample, when 75% $N_2$ gas was used during the post nitriding treatment. Also addition of Ar gas during post nitriding treatment degraded the corrosion resistance of the sample compared with the carburized sample.

• 열처리공학회지
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• 제23권5호
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• pp.269-276
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• 2010

This study has been carried out to the low temperature plasma nitriding treatment on the mechanical properties of stainless steel at temperature range between $400^{\circ}C$ and $500^{\circ}C$. It was found that there was precipitated to free CrN matrix below $400^{\circ}C$ and there was precipitated S-phase of STS 316L, ${\varepsilon}$-phase of STS 409L and ${\alpha}N$-phase of STS 420J2. STS 316L has formed relatively abundant CrN phase and ${\gamma}^{\prime}-Fe_4N$ phase at $500^{\circ}C$, alternatively STS 409L and STS 420J2 were more deeply nitrided than STS 316L at $500^{\circ}C$.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• 제6권5호
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• pp.251-256
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• 2007

Plasma nitriding is a surface treatment process which is increasingly used to improve wear, fatigue and corrosion resistance of industrial parts. Active screen plasma nitriding (ASPN) has both the advantages of the classic cold wall and the hot wall conventional dc plasma nitriding (DCPN) method and the parts to be nitrided are no longer directly exposed to the plasma. In this study, AS plasma nitriding has been used to nitride the UNS S31803 duplex stainless steel, AISI 304 and AISI 316 austenitic stainless steel, and AISI 420 martensitic stainless steel. Treated specimenswere characterized by means of microstructural analysis, microhardness measurements and electrochemical tests in NaCl aerated solutions. Hardness of the nitride cases of AISI 420 stainless steel by Knoop test can get up to 1300 HK0.1. From polarization tests, the corrosion current densities of AISI 420 and UNS S31803specimens ASPN at $420^{\circ}C$ were generally lower than those of their untreated substrates. The corrosion resistance of UNS S31803 duplex stainless steel can be enhanced by plasma nitriding at $420^{\circ}C$ Cowing to the formation of the S-phase.

• 한국표면공학회지
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• 제50권4호
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• pp.272-276
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• 2017

The response of AISI 310 type austenitic stainless steel to the novel low temperature plasma carburizing process has been investigated in this work. This grade of stainless steel shows better corrosion resistance and high temperature oxidation resistance due to its high chromium and nickel content. In this experiment, plasma carburizing was performed on AISI 310 stainless steel in a D.C. pulsed plasma ion nitriding system at different temperatures in $H_2-Ar-CH_4$ gas mixtures. The working pressure was 4 Torr (533Pa approx.) and the applied voltage was 600 V during the plasma carburizing treatment. The hardness of the samples was measured by using a Vickers micro hardness tester with the load of 100 g. The phase of carburized layer formed on the surface was confirmed by X-ray diffraction. The resultant carburized layer was found to be precipitation free and resulted in significantly improved hardness and corrosion resistance.

• 한국표면공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국표면공학회 2012년도 추계총회 및 학술대회 논문집
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• pp.175-177
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• 2012

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.

• 열처리공학회지
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• 제32권5호
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• pp.201-211
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• 2019

Low carbon steel (S20C steel) and SPCC steel sheet have been austenitic nitrided at $700^{\circ}C$ in a closed pit type furnace by changing the flow rate of ammonia gas and heat treating time. When the flow rate of ammonia gas was low, the concentration of residual ammonia appeared low and the hardness value of transformed surface layer was high. The depth of the surface layer, however, was shallow. With increasing the concentration of residual ammonia by raising up the ammonia gas flow, both the depth of the surface layer and the pore depth increased, while the maximum hardness of the surface layer decreased. By introducing a large amount of ammonia gas in a short time, a deep surface layer with minimal pores on the outermost surface was obtained. In this experiment, while maintaining 10~12% of residual ammonia, the flow rate of inlet ammonia gas, 7 liter/min, was introduced at $700^{\circ}C$ for 1 hour. In this condition, the thickness of the surface layer without pores appeared about $60{\mu}m$ in S20C steel and $30{\mu}m$ in SPCC steel plate. Injecting additional methane gas (carburizing gas) to this condition played a deteriorating effect due to promoting the formation of vertical pores in the surface layer. For $1^{st}$ transformed surface layer for S20C steel, maintaining 10~12% residual ammonia condition via austenitic nitriding process resulted in ${\varepsilon}$ phase with relatively high nitrogen concentration (just below 4.23 wt.%N) among the mixed phases of ${\varepsilon}+{\gamma}$. The ${\varepsilon}$ phase was formed a specific orientation perpendicular to the surface. For $2^{nd}$ transformed layer for S20C steel, ${\gamma}$ phase was rather dominant (just above 2.63 wt.%N). For SPCC steel sheet, there appeared three phases, ${\gamma}$, ${\alpha}(M)$ and weak ${\varepsilon}$ phase. The nitrogen concentration would be approximately 2.6 wt.% in these phases condition.