• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
• /
• v.50 no.4
• /
• pp.272-276
• /
• 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.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
• /
• v.46 no.3
• /
• pp.125-130
• /
• 2008

Conventional plasma carburizing or nitriding for austenitic stainless steels results in a degradation of corrosion resistance. However, a low temperature plasma surface treatment can improve surface hardness without deteriorating the corrosion resistance. The 2-step low temperature plasma processes (the combined carburizing and post nitriding) offers 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. In the present paper, attempts have been made to investigate the influence of the introduction of Ar gas (0~20%) in nitriding atmosphere during low temperature plasma nitriding at $370^{\circ}C$ after low temperature plasma carburizing at $470^{\circ}C$. All treated specimens exhibited the increase of the surface hardness with increasing Ar level in the atmosphere and the surface hardness value reached up to 1050 HV0.1, greater than 750 $HV_{0.1}$ in the carburized state. The expanded austenite phase (${\gamma}_N$) was observed on the most of the treated surfaces. The thickness of the ${\gamma}_N$ layer reached about $7{\mu}m$ for the specimen treated in the nitriding atmosphere containing 20% Ar. In case of 10% Ar containing atmosphere, the corrosion resistance was significantly enhanced than untreated austenitic stainless steels, whilst 20% Ar level in the atmosphere caused to form CrN in the N-enriched layer (${\gamma}_N$), which led to the degradation of corrosion resistance compared with untreated austenitic stainless steels.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
• /
• v.46 no.6
• /
• pp.357-362
• /
• 2008

The 2-step low temperature plasma processes (the combined carburizing and post-nitriding) were carried out for improving both the surface hardness and corrosion resistance of AISI 316L stainless steel. The effects of processing time and temperature 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 ${\gamma}_N$ was 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 reached up to $1,200HV_{0.1}$ which is about 5 times higher than that of untreated sample ($250HV_{0.1}$). The thickness of ${\gamma}_N$ and concentration of N on the surface were increased with increasing processing time and temperature. The corrosion resistance in 2-step low temperature plasma processed austenitic stainless steels was enhanced more than that in the untreated austenitic stainless steels due to a high concentration of N on the surface.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
• /
• v.42 no.3
• /
• pp.116-121
• /
• 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.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.25 no.1
• /
• pp.56-60
• /
• 2011

A low temperature plasma carburizing process was performed to AISI 304L austenitic stainless steel to achieve the enhancement of surface hardness without a compromise in their corrosion resistance. Attempts were made to investigate the influence of the processing temperatures on the surface-hardened layer during low temperature plasma carburizng in order to obtain the optimum processing conditions. The expanded austenite (${\gamma}C$) was formed on all the treated surfaces. Precipitates of chromium carbides were detected in the hardened layer (C-enriched layer) only for the specimen treated at $500^{\circ}C$. The hardened layer thickness of ${\gamma}C$ increased up to about $35\;{\mu}m$, with increasing treatment temperature. The surface hardness reached about 1000 $HK_{0.05}$, which is about 4 times higher than that of the untreated sample (250 $HK_{0.05}$). Minor loss in corrosion resistance was observed for the specimens treated at temperatures of $310^{\circ}C-450^{\circ}C$ compared with untreated austenitic stainless steel. Particularly, the precipitation of chromium carbides at $500^{\circ}C$ led to a significant decrease in the corrosion resistance.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.25 no.6
• /
• pp.60-65
• /
• 2011

A low temperature plasma carburizing process was performed on AISI 316L austenitic stainless steel to achieve an enhancement of the surface hardness without degradation of its corrosion resistance. Attempts were made to investigate the influence of the processing temperatures on the surface hardened layer during low temperature plasma carburizing in order to obtain the optimum processing conditions. The expanded austenite (${\gamma}_c$) phase, which contains a high saturation of carbon (S phase), was formed on all of the treated surfaces. Precipitates of chromium carbides were detected in the hardened layer (C-enriched layer) only for the specimen treated at $550^{\circ}C$. The hardened layer thickness of ${\gamma}_c$ increased up to about $65{\mu}m$ with increasing treatment temperature. The surface hardness reached about 900 $HK_{0.05}$, which is about 4 times higher than that of the untreated sample (250 $HK_{0.05}$). A minor loss in corrosion resistance was observed for the specimens treated at temperatures of $300^{\circ}C{\sim}450^{\circ}C$ compared with untreated austenitic stainless steel. In particular, the precipitation of chromium carbides at $550^{\circ}C$ led to a significant decrease in the corrosion resistance. A diamond-like carbon (DLC) film coating was applied to improve the wear and friction properties of the S phase layer. The DLC film showed a low and stable friction coefficient value of about 0.1 compared with that of the carburized surface (about 0.45). The hardness and corrosion resistance of the S phase layer were further improved by the application of such a DLC film.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
• /
• v.16 no.4
• /
• pp.191-196
• /
• 2003

For improvement of the wear performance of Ti alloy, vacuum-carburizing technique was tried for the first time using propane atmosphere. During the low pressure carburizing carbide was formed at the surface and carbon transfer was occurred from the carbide to the matrix. It was found that: (i) surface hardness increased with the reduction of operating pressure and time; (ii) optimum hardness distribution could be obtained with the proper choice of temperature and carbon flux control; and, (iii) case depth was largely influenced not by time but by temperature. The two steps process was recommended for obtaining thick case depth and high surface hardness of Ti alloy. For the low oxygen partial pressure, it was necessary to introduce additional CO gas to the atmosphere.Grain boundary oxidation and non-uniformity could be prevented.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
• /
• v.8 no.8
• /
• pp.707-713
• /
• 1998

The influence of plasma carburizing process on the surface hardness of SCM415 low-alloy steel (0.15% C) was investigated under the various process conditions of gas composition. gas pressure, plasma current density. temperature and time. The effective case depth was found to depend on the amount of methan gas containing carbon. thus the deepest case depth and the uniform hardeness were obtained with the 100% methan gas. The case depth increased with the plasma current density. The effective plasma carburizing temperature of SCM415 steel was found to be higher than 85$0^{\circ}C$, and the case depth was proportional to the square root of carburizing time under the same current density. The bending fatigue strength of the plasma carburized specimen is' higher than those of as- received specimen or reheat-quenched specimen.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
• /
• 2007.11a
• /
• pp.159-160
• /
• 2007

저온 플라즈마 침탄 처리 후 연속적인 공정으로 저온 플라즈마 질화를 실시하여 내식성과 표면경도를 향상시키는 처리에서 질화처리 시 Ar 가스가 표면특성에 미치는 영향을 조사 하였다. 모든 시편의 경도가 미처리재 보다 약4배 증가하였으며, Ar가스의 양이 증가할수록 N의 침투깊이가 깊어졌다. 전체 경화증의 두께는 거의 일정하였고, 경화층은 모재보다 내식성이 증가되어 단면조직사진에서 밝게 나타났다.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
• /
• v.47 no.10
• /
• pp.629-634
• /
• 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.