Friction, wear, and corrosion behavior of nitrocarburized HT250 gray cast iron

This study employed friction and wear experiments on nitrocarburized HT250 gray cast iron, utilizing GCr15 cemented carbide balls as the friction pair, to investigate the friction behavior and wear mechanism of the compound layer, diffusion layer, and matrix. The findings indicate that the diffusion layer exhibits the highest wear resistance, followed by the compound layer, while the matrix shows the lowest wear resistance. At lower loads, the wear form of the compound layer is characterized by minor flaking wear, the diffusion layer exhibits minor flaking and abrasive wear, and the matrix displays minor adhesive wear accompanied by abrasive wear. With increasing loads, the wear form of the compound layer transitions to flaking and abrasive wear, the diffusion layer shows fatigue flaking wear, and the matrix demonstrates severe adhesive wear, fatigue flaking wear, and abrasive wear. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and potentiodynamic polarization were employed to study the corrosion behavior of the compound layer, diffusion layer, and matrix in a 3.5 wt% NaCl solution. The results indicate a 27.7 % decrease in the corrosion current density of the compound layer compared to the matrix, with the diffusion layer exhibiting a corrosion current density two orders of magnitude lower than both the matrix and compound layer. In electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, the diffusion layer shows the highest impedance modulus, largest phase angle amplitude, and circular arc radius. It shows that the corrosion resistance of HT250 gray cast iron is improved after nitrocarburizing, especially the diffusion layer.