• 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.

• Journal of Power System Engineering
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.76-81
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• 2005

The effect of micro-pulse plasma nitriding temperature and time on the case thickness, hardness and nitride formation in the surface of Fe-12Cr-22Mn-X alloy with 3% Co and 1% Ti alloys elements investigated. External compound layer and internal diffusion layer was constituted in plasma nitride case of Fe-12Cr-22Mn-X alloys and formed nitride phase such as ${\gamma}'-Fe4N\;and\;{\varepsilon}-Fe2-3N$. Case depth increased with increasing the plasma nitriding temperature and time. Surface hardness of nitrided Fe-12Cr-22Mn-X alloys obtained the above value of Hv 1,600 and case depth obtained the above value of $45{\mu}m$ in Fe-12Cr-22Mn-3Co alloy and $60{\mu}m$ in Fe-12Cr-22Mn-1Ti alloy. Wear-resistance increased with increasing plasma nitriding time and showing the higher value in Fe-12Cr-22Mn-1Ti alloy than Fe-12Cr-22Mn-3Co alloy.

• 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 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.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.144-154
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• 1997

Effects of plasma nitriding on the surface charcteristice of stainless steel(SS) were investjgated by utilizing wear tester, micro-hardness tester and potentiostat. The surface and corrosion morphology of plasma nitrided SS were analyzed by utilizing optical microscopy, SEM, XRD and WDX. It was found that plasma nitriding at $550^{\circ}C$, compared with $380^{\circ}C$, prodiced a good wear resistance and hardness as nitriding time increased, whereas Mo addition showd that were resistance and hardness decreased. Intergranular corrosion(IGC) resistance improved significantly in the case of plasma nirtrided SS containing 4.05wt% Mo at $380^{\circ}C$ because that nitrogen and Mo ast syner gidically to form a protective layer on surface which is responsible for the aggresive SCN-ion. Plasma nitrided at $550^{\circ}C$ decreased IGC as Mo content increased. Pitting improved in the plasma nitirided SS at Mo content incresased owing to retard a nucleation and growth of chromium carbide or nitirde in grain boundary.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.237-242
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• 2007

Friction coefficient of SM45C steel was surprisingly reduced with $H_2S$ and $C_3H_8$ gas during plasma sulf-nitriding. During the plasma sulf-nitriding, 100-700 sccm of $H_2S$ gas and 100 sccm of $C_3H_8$ gas were added and working pressure and temperature were 2 torr, $500-550^{\circ}C$, respectively. As $H_2S$ gas amount increased over 500 sccm, flake-like structures were developed on top of the nitriding layer and grain size of the nitriding layer were about 100 nm. The friction coefficient for the sample treated plasma sulf-nitriding under $N_2-H_2S$ gas was 0.4 - 0.5. The structure became more finer and amorphous-like along with $N_2-H_2S-C_3H_8$ gas and the nano-sized surface microstructures resulted in high hardness and significantly low friction coefficient of 0.2.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.48 no.6
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• pp.269-274
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• 2015

In this experiment, post-nitriding treatment was performed at $400^{\circ}C$ on AISI 316 stainless steel which was plasma carburized previously at $430^{\circ}C$ for 15 hours. Plasma nitriding was implemented on AISI 316 stainless steel at various gas compositions (25% $N_2$, 50% $N_2$ and 75% $N_2$) for 4 hours. Additionally, during post nitriding Ar gas was used with $H_2$ and $N_2$ to observe the improvement of surface properties. 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 reduced 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% $N_2$ gas was used during the post nitriding treatment. Also addition of Ar gas during post nitriding treatment degraded the corrosion resistance of the sample compared with the carburized sample.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.33 no.7
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• pp.309-314
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• 2023

This study aimed to address the limitations of traditional plasma nitriding methods by implementing a short-term plasma oxy-nitriding treatment on the surface of AISI 420 martensitic stainless steel. This treatment involved the sequential formation of nitride and oxide layers, to enhance surface hardness and corrosion resistance, respectively. The process resulted in the formation of a 20 ㎛-thick nitride layer and a 3 ㎛-thick oxide layer on the steel surface. Initially, the hardness increased by 2.2 times after nitriding, followed by a subsequent decrease of approximately 31 % after oxidation. While the nitriding process reduced corrosion resistance, the subsequent oxidation process led to the formation of a passive oxide film, effectively resolving this issue. The pitting corrosion of the oxide passive film started at 82.6 mVssc, providing better corrosion resistance characteristics than the nitride layer. Consequently, the trade-off between surface hardness and corrosion resistance in plasma oxy-nitrided AISI 420 martensitic stainless steel is anticipated to be recognized as an innovative and comprehensive surface treatment process for biomedical components.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.50 no.6
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• pp.504-509
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• 2017

In order to improve corrosion resistance for cast stainless steel in seawater, the characteristics of corrosion resistance after plasma ion nitriding was investigated. Plasma ion nitriding process was conducted in a mixture of nitrogen of 25% and hydrogen of 75% at substrate temperature ranging from 350 to $500^{\circ}C$ for 10 hours using pulsed-DC glow discharge plasma with working pressure of 250 Pa in vacuum condition. Corrosion tests were carried out for as-received and plasma ion nitrided specimens. The corrosion characteristics were investigated by measurement of weight loss and observation of surface morphology. In anodic polarization experiment, relatively less damage depth and weight loss were presented at a nitrided temperature of $400^{\circ}C$, attributing to the formation of S-phase.