The Effectiveness of Active Screen Method in Ion Nitriding Grade 5 Titanium Alloy

The study assessed the effect of ion nitriding on the properties of the surface layer of Grade 5 titanium alloy used, among others, in medicine. Titanium and its alloys have low hardness and insufficient wear resistance in conditions of friction which limits the use of these materials. The improvement of these properties is only possible by the appropriate modification of the surface layer of these alloys. The ion nitriding process was carried out in a wide temperature range, i.e., 530–590 °C, and in the time range 5–17 h. Two variants of nitriding were applied: cathodic (conventional) nitriding and nitriding using the active screen method. The research results presented in this article allow for stating that each of the applied nitriding variants improves the analysed properties (nitrogen diffusion depth, hardness, wear resistance, microstructure analysis and surface topography) of the surface layers in relation to the material before nitriding. The hardness increased in every nitriding variant (the use of the additional active screen increased the hardness to 1021 HK0.025). The greatest increase in titanium abrasion resistance was found for surfaces after cathodic nitriding with an active screen. Each of the applied nitriding variants resulted in surface development.