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

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.24 no.1
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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.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.46 no.6
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• pp.357-362
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• 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 Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.23 no.5
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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 $500^{\circ}C$.

• Journal of Surface Science and Engineering
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• v.42 no.3
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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.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.47 no.10
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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.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
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• 2001.11a
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• pp.29-30
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• 2001

This paper presents some results of plasma nitriding on hard chromium deposit. The substrates were C45 steel and $30~50{\;}\mu\textrm{m}$ of chromium deposit by electroplating was formed. Plasma nitriding was carried out in a plasma nitriding system with $95NH_3{\;}+{\;}SCH_4$ atmosphere at the pressure about 600 Pa and different temperature from $450^{\circ}C{\;}to{\;}720^{\circ}C$ for various time. Optical microscopy and X-ray diffraction were used to evaluate the characteristics of surface nitride layer formed by nitrogen diffusion from plasma atmosphere inward iCr coating and interface carbide layer formed by carbon diffusion from substrate outward Cr coating. The microhardness was measured using microhareness tester at the load of 100 gf. Corrosion resistance was evaluated using the potentiodynamic measurement in 3.5% NaG solution. A saturated calomel electrode (SiCE) was used as the reference electrode. Fig.1 shows the typical microstructures of top surface and cross-section for nitrided and unnitrided samples. Aaer plasma nitriding a sandwich structure was formed consisting of surface nitride layer, center chromium layer and interface carbide layer. The thickness of nitride and carbide layers was increased with the increase of processing temperature and time. Hardness reached about 1000Hv after nitriding while 900Hv for unnitrided hard chromium deposit. X-ray diffraction indicated that surface nitrided layer was a mixture of $Cr_2N$ and CrN at low temperature and erN at high temperature (Fig.2). Anodic polarization curves showed that plasma nitriding can greatly improve the corrosion resistance of chromium e1ectrodeposit. After plasma nitriding, the corrosion potential moved to noble direction and passive current density was lower by 1 to 4 orders of magnitude compared with chromium deposit(Fig.3).

• Journal of Surface Science and Engineering
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• v.52 no.4
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• pp.194-202
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• 2019

A systematic investigation was made on the influence of processing parameters such as gas composition and treatment temperature on the surface characteristics of hardened layers of low temperature plasma nitrided 316L Austenitic Stainless Steel. Various nitriding processes were conducted by changing temperature ($370^{\circ}C$ to $430^{\circ}C$) and changing $N_2$ percentage (10% to 25%) for 15 hours in the glow discharge environment of a gas mixture of $N_2$ and $H_2$ in a plasma nitriding system. In this process a constant pressure of 4 Torr was maintained. Increasing nitriding temperature from $370^{\circ}C$ to $430^{\circ}C$, increases the thickness of S phase layer and the surface hardness, and also makes an improvement in corrosion resistance, irrespective of nitrogen percent. On the other hand, increasing nitrogen percent from 10% to 25% at $430^{\circ}C$ decreases corrosion resistance although it increases the surface hardness and the thickness of S phase layer. Therefore, optimized condition was selected as nitriding temperature of $430^{\circ}C$ with 10% nitrogen, as at this condition, the treated sample showed better corrosion resistance. Moreover to further increase the thickness of S phase layer and surface hardness without compromising the corrosion behavior, further research was conducted by fixing the $N_2$ content at 10% with introducing various amount of $CH_4$ content from 0% to 5% in the nitriding atmosphere. The best treatment condition was determined as 10% $N_2$ and 5% $CH_4$ content at $430^{\circ}C$, where the thickness of S phase layer of about $17{\mu}m$ and a surface hardness of $980HV_{0.1}$ were obtained (before treatment $250HV_{0.1}$ hardness). This specimen also showed much higher pitting potential, i.e. better corrosion resistance, than specimens treated at different process conditions and the untreated one.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.268-274
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• 1997

Characteristics of plasma nitriding and nitrocarburizing for steam treated sintered steels were studied. Fe-0.8%C powder containing Ni, Cu were sintered at 112$0^{\circ}C$ and steamed at 52$0^{\circ}C$. Temperature of plasma nitriding and nitrocarburizing was varied from 50$0^{\circ}C$ to $600^{\circ}C$. Gas mixture of nitriding was set at $N_2$ : $H_2$ =80:20 (vol.%), but $CH_4gas$ was added 1~2 vol.% for nitrocarburizing. Steam treatment for sintered steels brought not only the formation of oxide layer but also decarburizing near the surface. Decrease in hardness near the surface resulted from the formation of ferrite due to decarburizing. Thus, the low hardness was recovered not with plasma nitriding but with plasma nitrocarburixing. Wear resistance properties of steamed specimens and ni-trocarburized specimens were better than those of nitrided specimens according to the pin-on-disk wear test. On the other hand, the fatigue life of steamed specimen was shorter than that of nitrocaiburized specimen.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
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• 2015.11a
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• pp.291-292
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• 2015

Duplex Stainless Steel의 Plasma Nitriding 처리 시 가스량과 처리온도가 표면 특성에 미치는 영향을 조사하였다. $N_2$함량 및 처리 온도가 각각 10%에서 25%로 $400^{\circ}C$에서 $430^{\circ}C$로 증가함에 따라서 질소가 과고용된 S-phase의 두께 및 표면 경도가 증가하였으나, 내부 식성은 $Cr_2N$ 및 $(Fe,Cr)_4N$이 석출하여 감소하였다. 질소를 10%로 고정하고 $CH_4$함량을 증가시키면 1%일 때 S-phase의 두께가 최대가 되며 그이후로 감소하였다. 처리온도 $400^{\circ}C$일 때 질소함량이 10%, $CH_4$ 함량이 5%일 경우 내식성이 모재보다 증가하였다.