• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
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• 2012.05a
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• pp.177-178
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• 2012

In this experiment, post-nitriding treatment has been performed at $400^{\circ}C$ on AISI 316 stainless steel which is plasma carburized previously at $430^{\circ}C$ for 15 hours. Plasma nitriding was implemented on AISI 316 stainless steel at various gas compositions (25% N2, 50% N2 and 75% N2) for 4 hours. Additionally, during post nitriding Ar gas was used with H2 and N2 to observe the improvement of treatment. After treatment, the behavior of the hybrid layer was investigated by optical microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and micro-hardness testing. Potentiodynamic polarization test was also used to evaluate the corrosion resistance of the samples. Meanwhile, it was found that the surface hardness increased with increasing the nitrogen gas content. Also small percentage of Ar gas was introduced in the post nitriding process which improved the hardness of the hardened layer but reduces the corrosion resistance compared with the carburized sample. The experiment revealed that AISI 316L stainless steel showed better hardness and excellent corrosion resistance compared with the carburized sample, when 75% N2 gas was used during the post nitriding treatment. Also addition of Ar gas during post nitriding treatment were degraded the corrosion resistance of the sample compared with the carburized sample.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.94-100
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• 2004

In order to improve the wear resistance of Ti-6Al-4V alloy, plasma carburization treatment was newly carried out without consumption of its good specific strength and fatigue life over the temperature. Effect of the plasma carburization was analyzed and compared with the non-treated alloy by microstructural observation, structure characterization and mechanical test. The plasma treated alloy formed a carburized layer of about $150{\mu}m$ in depth from the surface, where a fine and hard particles of TiC and $V_4C_3$ were homogeneously dispersed through the layer. The steady-static creep behaviors of Ti-6Al-4V alloy, using the constant stress creep tester, were investigated over the temperature range of $510{\sim}550^{\circ}C$(0.42~0.44Tm) and the stress range of 200~275 MPa. Stress exponent(n) was decreased from 9.32 of non-treatment specimen to 8.95 of carburized, however, the activation energy(Q) increased from 238 to 250 kJ/mol with the same condition as indicated above. From the above results, it can be concluded that the static creep deformation for Ti-6Al-4V alloy was controlled by the dislocation climb over the ranges of the experimental conditions.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.238-244
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• 2017

Plasma ion nitriding has been widely used in various industries to improve the mechanical properties of materials, especially stainless steels by increasing the surface hardness. It has the particular advantages of less distortion compared to that in the case of hardening of steel, gas nitriding, and carburizing; in addition, it allows treatment at low-temperatures, and results in a high surface hardness and improved corrosion resistance. Many researchers have demonstrated that the plasma ion nitriding process should be carried out at temperatures of below $450^{\circ}C$ to improve corrosion resistance via the formation of the expanded austenite phase(S-phase). Most experimentals studied to date have been carried out in chloride solutions like HCl or NaCl. However, the electrochemical characteristics for the chloride solutions and natural seawater differ. Hence, in this work, plasma ion nitriding of 304 stainless steels was performed at various temperatures, and the electrochemical characteristics corresponding to the different process temperatures were analyzed for the samples in natural seawater. Finally the optimum plasma ion nitriding temperature that resulted in the highest corrosion resistance was determined.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.19 no.9
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• pp.457-461
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• 2009

Recently, metal molding has become essential not only for automobile parts, but also mass production, and has greatly influenced production costs as well as the quality of products. Its surface has been treated by carburizing, nitriding and induction hardening, but these existing treatments cause considerable deformation and increase the expense of postprocessing after treatment; furthermore, these treatments cannot be easily applied to parts that requiring the hardening of only a certain section. This is because the treatment cannot heat the material homogeneously, nor can it heat all of it. Laser surface treatment was developed to overcome these disadvantages, and, when the laser beam is irradiated on the surface and laser speed is appropriate, the laser focal position is rapidly heated and the thermal energy of surface penetrates the material after irradiation, finally imbuing it with a new mechanical characteristic by the process of self-quenching. This research estimates the material characteristic after efficient and functional surface treatment using HPDL, which is more efficient than the existing CW Nd:YAG laser heat source. To estimate this, microstructural changes and hardness characteristics of three parts (the surface treatment part, heat affect zone, and parental material) are observed with the change of laser beam speed and surface temperature. Moreover, the depth of the hardened area is observed with the change of the laser beam speed and temperature.