• 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).

• 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.36 no.3
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• pp.161-173
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• 2023

This study investigated the effects of K_N and process time on the formation of a compound layer at a nitriding temperature of 540℃ for SCR420H material. As a result of controlled nitriding from 3 h to 20 h at K_N 1.2 atm^-1/2, compound layers were formed up to about 10 ㎛, and an effective hardening depth of about 460 ㎛ was obtained. Initially, an ε+γ' complex phase was formed, and the phase fraction changed over time, and finally, the fraction of ε phase decreased to less than 1%. With higher K_N, the compound thickness increased, a pore layer was formed on the surface, and the surface hardness decreased. By applying the controlled nitriding process, it was possible to produce annulus gears with a compound thickness of 12.8 ㎛ and an ε phase of 5% or less. The annulus gears made through controlled nitriding were mounted on a 6-speed transmission and tested for durability. As a result, the durability test of 250,000 km was satisfied, and the transmission efficiency was also confirmed to be expected.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.49-57
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• 2024

We investigated the changes in microstructure and surface roughness of the compound layer of GC250D gray cast iron, commonly used in brake discs, during gas nitriding. The gas atmosphere of the nitriding process was controlled with a hydrogen partial pressure of 49.5%, and the process was conducted at a nitriding temperature of 520℃ with various process times. As the nitriding process time of the GC250D material increased, both the depth of hardening and the thickness of the compound layer increased, with a maximum surface hardness of approximately 1265 HV_0.1 was measured. Additionally, the surface roughness increased with the process time. Phase analysis of the compound layer revealed an increase in the proportion of the γ' phase as the nitriding process time increased. Changes in the formation of the compound layer were observed depending on the orientation of graphite within the material, leading to the formation of wedges. Therefore, the increase in surface roughness appears to be attributed to the uneven compounds, the expansion of the compound layer and wedges formed on the surface during the nitriding process.

• Journal of Surface Science and Engineering
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.325-333
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• 1998

A duplex surface treatment process of simultaneous aluminizing-chromizing process followed by plasma nitriding was performed on AISI HI3 steel and STS 403 steel. The properties of these duplex-treated steels were investigated and were compared with those of steels treated by single process of either simultaneous aluminizing-chromizing or plasma nilriding, in terms of microstructure, microhardness and high temperature wear resistance. Sim~dtaneous alumizing-chromizing process was done using a 2-step coating cycle and plasma nitriding process was done at $530^{\circ}C$ for 1.5 hour. AISI HI3 steel and STS 403 steel showed a FeA1 compound layer of approximately 350$\mu\textrm{m}$ thickness on the surface after simultaneous diffusion coating and nitrided layer of approximately 70-80$\mu\textrm{m}$ formed after the subsequent plasma nitriding process. The microhardness was improved much more by the duplex surface heatment than only by plasma nitriding. In addition the duplex treated specimens showed an improved high temperature wear resistance.

• 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.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.476-480
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• 1984

This paper deals with nitrogen diffusion velocity and activation energy in diffusion layer and compound layer in ion-nitriding, and presents observations on the effect of deformation according to nitriding methods. During the experiment the activation energy and diffusion velocity of nitrogen have been examined in S45C steel samples. It is found that the results of an investigation correspond with the theoretical data and the ion-nitriding method offers less deformation than conventional salt-bath method of nitriding.

• 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.

• Proceedings of the Korean Powder Metallurgy Institute Conference
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• 2006.09b
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• pp.1163-1164
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• 2006

TZM alloy having elongated coarse-grain structure was developed by three-step internal nitriding treatment at 1423 to 1873 K in $N_2$ and subsequent recrystallization treatment at 2173 K in vacuum. Some specimens were subjected to re-nitriding treatment at 1873 K for 16 h. After the recrystallization treatment, aspect ratio (L/W) of grains for rolling direction was about 50 at the maximum. Yield stress obtained at 1773 K after re-nitriding treatment was about 6 times as large as that of recrystallized specimen. Re-nitriding was very effective in the improvement in strength of TZM alloy having elongated coarse-grain structure.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2004.04a
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• pp.722-727
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• 2004

This paper includes the comparative study between Cr plating and nitriding process with an aim at improving corrosion, wear and maintainability for KNR(Korean Next Generation Rifle) 5.56mm barrel. The endurance test was conducted to compare the performance of standard barrel, Cr plating barrel and nitriding barrel. Main activities are described as follows; optimal Cr plating and nitriding process set-up for KNR 5.56mm barrel; durability test of each barrel(20,000 rounds); salt water immersion test; dispersion, initial velocity, inner diameter data acquisition. According to the results of this firing test, Cr plating barrel is superior to standard barrel and nitriding barrel in view of corrosion, wear and maintainability