• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.244-250
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• 2008

This study has investigated the surface phase change, hardness variation, surface precipitates, nitrogen content and corrosion resistance in STS 431 (17Cr-2Ni-0.2C-0.01Nb) martensitic stainless steel after high temperature gas nitriding (HTGN) treatment at the temperature range between $1050^{\circ}C$ and $1150^{\circ}C$. The HTGN-treated surface layer appeared $Cr_2N$ of rod type, carbo-nitride of round type and fine precipitates in the austenite matrix. On the other hand the interior region where the nitrogen was not permeated, exhibited martensite phase. The surface hardness showed 250~590 HV, depending on the HTGN treatment conditions, while the interior martensitic phase represented 520 HV. The permeation depth of nitrogen increased with increasing the HTGN-treated temperature. The nitrogen concentration of the surface layer appeared approximately ~0.17% at $1100^{\circ}C$. On comparing the corrosion resistance between solution-annealed and HTGN-treated steels, the corrosion resistance of HTGN-treated steel was superior to that of solution-annealed specimens.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.311-317
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• 2007

This study examined the phase changes, nitride precipitation and variation in mechanical properties of STS 304, STS 321 and STS 316L austenitic stainless steels after high temperature gas nitriding (HTGN) at temperature ranges from $1050^{\circ}C\;to\;1150^{\circ}C$. Fine round type of $Cr_2N$ nitrides were observed in the surface layers of 304 and 316L steels, even more in STS 321. Additionally, square type of TiN was found in STS 321 austenitic matrix too. As a result of many precipitates in the surface layer of the STS 321, it was seen $370{\sim}470Hv$ hardness variation depending on the HTGN treatment conditions, and interior region of austenite represented 150Hv. The surface hardness value of STS 304 and STS 316L showed $255{\sim}320Hv$, respectively. The nitrogen content was shown 0.27, 1.7 and 0.4% respectively at the surface layers of the STS 304, STS 321 and STS 316L. After the HTGN it was shown the improvement of corrosion resistance of the STS 321 and STS 316L compared with solution annealed steels in the solution of 1N $H_2SO_4$ whereas the STS 304 was not.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.61-66
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• 1986

The gas mixtures ($H_2$/$N_2$, He/$N_2$) having a high thermal conductivity allow the heat generated by the nitriding exotherm to be dissipated from the compact in to the nitriding atmosphere permitting a more accurate control of temperature and produces a more uniform microstructure. In order to observe the effect of the mixed gas atmosphere on the microsturcture of RBSN. the specimen was nitrided in the mixed gas atmosphere which was containe up to 50vol% $H_2$ or He for 0-12 hrs at 135$0^{\circ}C$. The addition of hydrogen to nitrogen gas resulted in the growth of a-needle at the early stage of nitrding increase of the reaction rate and a finer and more uniform microstructure. in case of the addition of helium the behaviour of reaction was similar to the one with pure nitrogen. As the amount of helium was increased a coarse microstructure was formed.

• Applied Microscopy
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.79-82
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• 2014

Aluminum nitride (AlN) powder was easily synthesized by the direct nitridation of Al melt containing ~20 wt.% Mg catalyst and the nitriding behavior was investigated by thermodynamic calculation and through observations of electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. The addition of Mg catalyst decreased the nitriding temperature below $1,000^{\circ}C$, which is comparable to the high nitriding temperature of $1,400^{\circ}C$ required in carbothermal method. It was caused by a significant increase of the solubility of nitrogen gas due to the increase of Mg catalyst in Al melt. The dissolved nitrogen gas met Mg catalyst and was transformed into metastable $Mg_3N_2$. Finally the metastable phase reacted with Al to AlN.

• 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 of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.148-154
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• 2018

When shooting small arms, the inner surface temperature is heated up to about $700{\sim}1,000^{\circ}C$ by the friction of the bullet and the inner wall of the barrel and the combustion of propellant. High-temperature propellant gas and high-speed movement of the bullet cause corrosion of the inner wall, which is noticeable immediately in front of the chamber. In this study, the mechanical properties of Cr-Mo-V steel, which is the base material, were tested using Taguchi experimental design to find the best nitriding treatment conditions. For the nitriding process, the working time, salt bath temperature, and salt concentration were combined as three conditions and placed in the $L_9(3^4)$, orthogonal array table. The thicknesses of the white layer and the nitrogen diffusion layer were measured after nitriding under each condition in a salt bath furnace. Durability was evaluated by measuring the degree of dispersion through actual shooting because it was difficult to evaluate the mechanical properties of the cylinder inner structure. As a result, it was confirmed that the durability was optimal at $565^{\circ}C$, 1 hour, 0.5%. These optimal conditions were selected by the statistical analysis of the Minitab program(ver.17).

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.115-120
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• 2012

It has been known that the ferritic stainless steel can be changed to martensitic stainless steel when nitrogen is added. However the high hardness of martensitic stainless steel prevents the plastic deformation. In this study, instead of martensite, the surface microstructure was changed into nitrogen pearlite to increase the plastic deformation easily by isothermal heat treatment after high temperature gas nitriding (HTGN) the AISI 430 ferritic stainless steel. The isothermal treatment was carried out at $780^{\circ}C$ for 4, 6, and 10 hrs, respectively, after HTGN treatment at $1100^{\circ}C$ for 10 hrs. The surface layer of isothermal-treated steel appeared nitrogen pearlite composed with fine chromium nitride and ferrite. Hence, the interior region that was not affected by nitrogen permeation exhibited ferrite phase. When quenching the isothermal treated steel at 1100oC, martensitic phase formed at the surface layer. The hardness of surface layer of isothermal-treated steel and quenched steel measured the value of 150~240 Hv and 630 Hv, respectively.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.43 no.8 s.291
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• pp.472-478
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• 2006

The effect of compositional and processing variables on a nitriding reaction of silicon powder compact and subsequent post sintering of RBSN (Reaction-Bonded Silicon Nitride) was investigated. The addition of a nitriding agent enhanced nitridation rate substantially at low temperatures, while the formation of a liquid phase between the nitriding agent and the sintering additives at a high temperature caused a negative catalyst effect resulting in a decreased nitridation rate. A liquid phase formed by solely an additive, however, was found to have no effect on nitridation for the additive amount used in this research. The original site of a decomposing pore former was loosely filled by a reaction product ($Si_3N_4$), which provided a specimen with nitriding gas passage. For SRBSN (Sintered RBSN) specimens of high porosity, only a marginal dimensional change was measured after post sintering. Its engineering implication for near-net shaping ability is discussed.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.51 no.4
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• pp.249-255
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• 2018

High temperature and low temperature gaseous nitriding was performed in order to study of the surface hardening and wear properties of the nitrided AISI 410 Martensitic stainless steels. High temperature gaseous nitiridng (HTGN) was carried out using partial pressure $N_2$ gas at $1,100^{\circ}C$ for 10 hour, and Low temperature gaseous nitiridng (LTGN) was conducted in a gas mixture of NH3 and N2 at $470^{\circ}C$ for 10 hour. The nitrided samples were characterized by microhardness measurements, optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The phases were identified by X-ray diffraction and nitrogen concentration was analyzed by GD-OES. The HTGN specimen had a surface hardness of about $700HV_{0.1}$, $350{\mu}m$ of case depth. A ${\sim}50{\mu}m$ thick, $1,250HV_{0.1}$ hard nitrided case formed at the surface of the AISI 410 steel by LTGN, composed nitrogen supersaturated expanded martensite and ${\varepsilon}-Fe_{24}N_{10}$ iron nitrides. Additionally, the results of the wear tests, carried out LTGN specimen was low friction coefficient and high worn mass loss of ball. The increase in wear resistance can be mainly attributed to the increase in hardness and to the lattice distortion caused by higher nitrogen concentration.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.38 no.5
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• pp.202-206
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• 2005

Nitriding treatments were conducted on tool steel (SKD 61) at a temperature of $500^{\circ}C$ for 5 hr using high vacuum direct current (DC) plasma, with ammonia and argon as source gases. The structural and compositional changes produced in the nitrided layers by applying different ratios of Ar to $NH_{3}\;(n_{Ar}/n_{NH3}) were investigated using glancing x-ray diffraction (GXRD), optical microscopy, atomic force microscopy (AFM), micro-Vickers hardness testing, and pin-on-disc type tribometer. Nitriding case depths of around of $50{\mu}m$ were produced, varying slightly with different ratios of $n_{Ar}/n_{NH3}. It was found that the specimen surface hardness was 1150 Hv with $n_{Ar}/n_{NH3}=1, increasing to a maximum value of 1500 Hv with $n_{Ar}/n_{NH3}=5. With a further increase in ratio to $n_{Ar}/n_{NH3}=10, the surface hardness of the specimen reduced slightly to a value of 1370 Hv. These phenomena were caused by changes of the crystallographic structure of the nitride layers, i.e the $\gamma'-Fe_{4}N$ phase only was observed in the sample treated with $n_{Ar}/n_{NH3}$=1, and the intensity of the $\gamma'-Fe_{4}N$ phase were reduced but new phase of $\varepsilon'-Fe_{3}N$, which was known as a high hardness, with increasing $n_{Ar}/n_{NH3}. Also, the relative weight loss of counterface of the pin-on-disc with unnitrided steel was 0.2. And that of nitrided steel at a gas mixture ($n_{Ar}/n_{NH3}) of 1, 5, 7, and 10 was 0.4, 0.7, 0.6, and 0.5 mg, respectively. This means that the wear resistance of the nitrided samples could be increased by a factor of 2 at least than that of unnitrided steel.