Effect of QPQ Salt Bath Oxidation on Corrosion Resistance
The QPQ complex salt bath treatment is a type of surface technology which contains mainly salt bath nitriding and post-oxidizing processes. The effect of QPQ oxidizing temperature and duration on the corrosion resistance of QPQ treated specimens has been explored by immersion tests and salt spray tests in this paper. All the specimens were post-oxidized after being nitrided at 570! for 2 hours. The material used in this study were 1020 steel. In the immersion tests, the specimens were immersed in 3‰ H2O2 and 10% NaCl water solution. In the salt spray tests, specimens were salt spray tested using 5% NaCl neutral solution. From the experimental data, for high corrosion resistance, conclusions can be drawn:(1) appropriate temperature should be selected carefully in post-oxidizing stage .Too low or too high temperature would decrease the corrosion resistance. (2) The best post-oxidizing duration should generate magnetite film in porous area and should not collapse. (3) In second oxidizing stage, the porous area has been partly eliminated, so the duration should be less than the duration of post-oxidizing.