• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.8-14
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• 2024

Austenitic stainless steel 316L has been used a lot of applications because of its high corrosion resistance and formability. In addition, copper brazing is employed to create complex shape of 316L stainless steel for various engineering parts. In such system, copper-based filler metals make galvanic cell at metal/filler metal interface, and it accelerates corrosion of stainless steel. Furthermore, Cu-rich region formed by diffused copper in austenitic stainless steel can promote a pitting corrosion. In this study, we used an ammonia (NH₃) gas to nitride the 316L stainless steel for improving the corrosion resistance. The thickness of the nitride (nitrogen high) layer increased with the treatment temperature, and the surface hardness also increased. The potentiodynamic polarization test showed the improvement of corrosion resistance of 316L stainless steel by enhancing the passivation on nitride layer. However, in case of high temperature nitriding, a chromium nitride was formed and its fraction increased, so that the corrosion resistance was decreased compared to the intact 316L stainless steel.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.57-64
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• 2002

The 22%Cr-5%Ni-3%Mo duplex and 18%Cr-8%Ni austenitic stainless steels have been nitrogen permeated under the $1Kg/cm^2$ nitrogen gas atmosphere at the temperature range of $1050^{\circ}C{\sim}1150^{\circ}C$. The nitrogen-permeated duplex and austenitic stainless steels showed the gradual decrease in hardness with increasing depth below surface. The duplex stainless steel showed nitrogen pearlite at the outmost surface and austenite single phase in the center after nitrogen permeation treatment, while the obvious microstructural change was not observed for the nitrogen-permeated austenitic stainless steel. After solution annealing the nitrogen-permeated stainless steels(NPSA treatment) at $1200^{\circ}C$ for 10 hours, the hardness of the duplex and austenitic stainless steels was constant through the 2 mm thickness of the specimen, and the ${\alpha}+{\gamma}$ phase of duplex stainless steel changed to austenite single phase. Tensile strengths and elongations of the NPSA-treated duplex stainless steel remarkably increased compared to those of solution annealed (SA) duplex stainless steel due to the solution strengthening effect of nitrogen and the phase change from a mixture of ferrite and austenite to austenite single phase, while the NP-treated austenitic stainless steel displayed the lowest value in elongation due to inhomogeneous deformation by the hardness difference between surface and interior.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.46 no.11
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• pp.708-712
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• 2008

The influence of high temperature gas nitriding (HTGN) in STS347 and STS310S steels was experimentally investigated. The HTGN was carried out at $1,050^{\circ}C{\sim}1,150^{\circ}C$ for 10 hrs in a gaseous atmosphere containing $1kg/mm^2$ of nitrogen. After HTGN, fine precipitates of $Cr_2N$ and NbN appeared in austenite on the surface of STS 347, while nitrogen pearlite, which was layeredof $Cr_2N$ and austenite alternatively, appeared in austenite on the surface of STS 310S. The surface hardness of HTGN-treated, STS 347 and STS 310S specimens was 250~360 Hv and 270~400 Hv, respectively, depending on the temperature of HTGN. The nitrogen content was analyzed 1.4 wt% and 1.6 wt% at the surface layer of STS 347 and STS 310S steels, respectively. In addition, an improvement in the corrosion resistance of HTGN treated specimens was observed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
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• 2001.11a
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• pp.69-69
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• 2001

We report a study of the nitriding of the martensitic grade of stainless steel AKSK 420 in a low-pressure rl discharge using pure nitrogen. Much studied samples of the austenitic grade AISI 304 were treated at the same time to provide a comparison. With a treatment time of 4.0 h at $400^{\circ}C$, the nitrogen-rich layer on MSK 420 is 20pm thick and has a hardness about 4.3 times higher than that of the untreated material. The layer thickness is much greater than that obtained on AISI 304 under identical treatment conditions, reflecting the different Cr content of the two alloys. The alloy AlISI 420 is more susceptible than AISI 304 to the formation of CrN and ferrite, and this has a deleterious effect on the hardnes, gain. Below the temperature at which CrN forms, the treated layer retains its martensitic structure, but with a larger lattice parameter than the bulk, a phase that we term expanded martensite, by analogy with the situation with austenitic stainless steel. The fact that the treated layer retains a martensitic structure is interesting in view of previous evidence that nitrogen is an austenite stabilizer.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.47 no.11
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• pp.716-721
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• 2009

The major drive for the application of low-temperature plasma treatment in nitrocarburizing of austenitic stainless steels lies in improved surface hardness without degraded corrosion resistance. The low-temperature plasma nitrocarburizing was performed in a gas mixture of $N_{2}$, $H_{2}$, and carbon-containing gas such as $CH_{4}$ at $450^{\circ}C$. The influence of the processing time (5~30 h) and $N_{2}$ gas composition (15~35%) on the surface properties of the nitrocarburized layer was investigated. The resultant nitrocarburized layer was a dual-layer structure, which was comprised of a N-enriched layer (${\gamma}_N$) with a high nitrogen content on top of a C-enriched layer (${\gamma}_C$) with a high carbon content, leading to a significant increase in surface hardness. The surface hardness reached up to about $1050HV_{0.01}$, which is about 4 times higher than that of the untreated sample ($250HV_{0.01}$). The thickness of the hardened layer increased with increasing treatment time and $N_{2}$ gas level in the atmosphere and reached up to about $25{\mu}m$. In addition, the corrosion resistance of the treated samples without containing $Cr_{2}N$ precipitates was enhanced than that of the untreated samples due to a high concentration of N on the surface. However, longer treatment time (25% $N_{2}$, 30 h) and higher $N_{2}$ gas composition (35% $N_{2}$, 20 h) resulted in the formation of $Cr_{2}N$ precipitates in the N-enriched layer, which caused the degradation of corrosion resistance.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.263-268
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• 2010

This investigation was focused on the low temperature tensile properties, phase change, changes in nitrogen content and corrosion resistance in the 22Cr-5Ni-3Mo duplex stainless steel after high temperature gas nitriding and solution annealing (HTGN-SA). From the HTGN-SA treatment, the duplex (ferrite + austenite) phase changed into austenite single phase. The nitrogen content of austenite single-phase steel showed a value of ~0.54%. For the HTGN-SA treated austenitic steel, tensile strength increased with lowering test temperature, on the other hand elongation showed the maximum value of 28.2% at $-100^{\circ}C$. The strain-induced martensitic transformation gave rise to lead the maximum elongation. After HTGN-SA treatment, corrosion resistance of the austenite single-phase steel increased remarkably compared with HTGN- treated steel.