scholarly journals Application of Active-Screen Plasma Nitriding to an Austenitic Stainless Steel Small-Diameter Thin Pipe

Metals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 366
Author(s):  
Kenzo Sumiya ◽  
Shinkichi Tokuyama ◽  
Akio Nishimoto ◽  
Junichi Fukui ◽  
Atsushi Nishiyama

Low-temperature active-screen plasma nitriding (ASPN) was applied in this study to improve the bending rigidity and corrosion resistance of a small-diameter thin pipe composed of austenitic stainless steel (SUS 304). The inner and outer diameters of the pipe were ϕ0.3 and ϕ0.4 mm, respectively, and the pipe length was 50 mm. The jig temperature was measured using a thermocouple and was adopted as the nitriding temperature because measuring the temperature of a small-diameter pipe is difficult. The nitriding temperature was varied from 578 to 638 K to investigate the effect of temperature on the nitriding layer and mechanical property. The nitriding layer thickness increased with an increase in nitriding temperature, reaching 15 μm at 638 K. The existence of expanded austenite (S phase) in this nitriding layer was revealed using the X-ray diffraction pattern. Moreover, the surface hardness increased with the nitriding temperature and took a maximum value of 1100 HV above 598 K. The bending load increased with an increase in the nitriding temperature in relation to the thicker nitriding layer and increased surface hardness. The nitrided samples did not corrode near the center, and corrosion was noted only near the tip at high nitriding temperatures of 618 and 638 K in a salt spray test. These results indicated that the bending rigidity of the small-diameter thin pipe composed of austenitic stainless steel was successfully improved using low-temperature ASPN while ensuring corrosion resistance.

Metals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 1845
Author(s):  
Francesca Borgioli ◽  
Emanuele Galvanetto ◽  
Tiberio Bacci

Low-temperature nitriding allows to improve surface hardening of austenitic stainless steels, maintaining or even increasing their corrosion resistance. The treatment conditions to be used in order to avoid the precipitation of large amounts of nitrides are strictly related to alloy composition. When nickel is substituted by manganese as an austenite forming element, the production of nitride-free modified surface layers becomes a challenge, since manganese is a nitride forming element while nickel is not. In this study, the effects of nitriding conditions on the characteristics of the modified surface layers obtained on an austenitic stainless steel having a high manganese content and a negligible nickel one, a so-called nickel-free austenitic stainless steel, were investigated. Microstructure, phase composition, surface microhardness, and corrosion behavior in 5% NaCl were evaluated. The obtained results suggest that the precipitation of a large volume fraction of nitrides can be avoided using treatment temperatures lower than those usually employed for nickel-containing austenitic stainless steels. Nitriding at 360 and 380 °C for duration up to 5 h allows to produce modified surface layers, consisting mainly of the so-called expanded austenite or gN, which increase surface hardness in comparison with the untreated steel. Using selected conditions, corrosion resistance can also be significantly improved.


2011 ◽  
Vol 228-229 ◽  
pp. 114-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shao Mei Zheng ◽  
Cheng Zhao

Plasma carburizing of AISI 316L austenitic stainless steel was carried out at low temperature to improve the surface hardness without degradation of its corrosion resistance. And the post-treatment, namely electrochemical surface brightening process was carried out to clear away a layer of thin black film on the plasma carburized samples and improve the surface quality of the hardened stainless steel. The surface appearance, roughness, microstructures, microhardness and corrosion resistance of the samples before and after brightening were analyzed and compared. Experimental results of plasma carburizing at low temperature showed that high-quality hardened layers can be produced at the appropriate process parameters.The electrochemical brightening process can be used as a post-treatment to restore the original color and further improve the corrosion resisitance of the plasma carburized stainless steel.


2011 ◽  
Vol 214 ◽  
pp. 564-568 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shao Mei Zheng ◽  
Cheng Zhao

Plasma carburizing of AISI 316L austenitic stainless steel was carried out at low temperature to improve the surface hardness without degradation of its corrosion resistance. The microstructure, surface hardness, phase composition and corrosion property of the hardened layer were analyzed. The experimental results show that high-quality hardened layers can be produced at the carburizing temperatures between 673 K and 773 K, which have not only high surface hardness and wear resistance, but also good corrosion resistance. All of the hardened layers display a precipitation-free structure or Sc phase. The chromium carbides began to precipitate in the hardened layer as soon as the carburizing temperature is higher than 823 K. The precipitation of chromium carbides will lead to deterioration in corrosion resistance of the hardened stainless steel.


2014 ◽  
Vol 881-883 ◽  
pp. 1263-1267 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shuo Zhao ◽  
Liang Wang ◽  
Jiu Jun Xu ◽  
Y. Shan

The duplex stainless steel has better pitting corrosion resistance but lacks of hardness and wear resistance. Therefore, the low temperature nitriding treatment can be used to increase its hardness and wear resistance or to gain more perfect corrosion resistance. The plasma nitriding of SS2205 stainless steel was carried out at temperatures from 693k to 753k for 4 hours at anodic potential. The nitrided samples were analyzed by optical microscopy, X-ray diffraction, SEM-EDX analysis, microhardness testing, wear and corrosion evaluation. The XRD analysis of all treated samples showed that the nitrogen-expanded austenite phase was formed. Both α and γ phase of the substrate were transformed into γNduring plasma nitriding. Observing the nitrided layers formed on α and γ phase, the ones situated in the austenite were thinner than the ones in the ferrite. This phenomenon was more evident at low temperature, which confirmed that the nitrogen has a higher diffusion rate in the ferrite during plasma nitriding treatment. The surface hardness of nitrided layer was increased with the nitriding temperature. The highest hardness value obtained in this experiment was about 1300 HV0.05which was 4 times as the original sample (380 HV0.05). Furthermore, through the wear and corrosion property tests, it was shown that anodic plasma nitriding improved the wear resistance and corrosion resistance of the duplex stainless steel.


2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (01) ◽  
pp. 1550084 ◽  
Author(s):  
YUXIN GAO ◽  
SHAOMEI ZHENG

Samples of AISI 201 austenitic stainless steel were produced by plasma nitriding at 350[Formula: see text]C, 390[Formula: see text]C, 420[Formula: see text]C, 450[Formula: see text]C and 480[Formula: see text]C for 5[Formula: see text]h. Systematic characterization of the nitrided layer was carried out in terms of micrograph observations, phase identification, chemical composition depth profiling, surface microhardness measurements and electrochemical corrosion tests. The results show that the surface hardness and the layer thickness increased with increasing temperature. XRD indicated that a single S-phase layer was formed during low temperature ([Formula: see text][Formula: see text]420[Formula: see text]C), while Cr2N or CrN phase was formed besides S-phase when nitrided at 450[Formula: see text]C and 480[Formula: see text]C. The specimen treated at 390[Formula: see text]C presents a much enhanced corrosion resistance compared to the untreated substrate. The corrosion resistance deteriorated for samples treated above 450[Formula: see text]C due to the formation of chromium nitrides.


2019 ◽  
Vol 795 ◽  
pp. 137-144
Author(s):  
Zhe Liu ◽  
Ya Wei Peng ◽  
Jian Ming Gong ◽  
Chao Ming Chen

In this work, the effect of surface self-nanocrystallization on low-temperature gas carburizing for AISI316L austenitic stainless steel has been studied. The surface ultrasonic rolling processing (SURP) was used to prepare nanostructured surface layers, and then the un-SURP and SURP samples were treated by LTGC at 470 °C for 10 h, 20 h and 30 h. In order to analyze the effect of surface self-nanocrystallization on low-temperature gas carburizing, optical microscopy (OM), atomic force microscope (AFM), scanning electron probe micro-analyzer (EPMA) and nano-indentation analyzer were used. The results show depth of SURP-induced plastic deformation layer was about 330 μm. Meanwhile, the surface hardness and elastic modulus were increased but the surface roughness decreased obviously after SURP. After low-temperature gas carburizing, according to the results of the thickness, carbon concentration, nano-hardness and elastic modulus of the carburized layer, the conclusion is that surface self-nanocrystallization carried by SURP has a negative effect on the low-temperature gas carburizing for AISI316L austenitic stainless steel and with the increase of carburizing time, the greater the adverse effect on carburizing.


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