High-Temperature Wear and Frictional Performance of Plasma-Nitrided AISI H13 Die Steel

Plasma nitriding, a surface treatment technique, is gaining popularity, as it is environment-friendly and offers superior mechanical properties. This research studied the wear and friction performance of AISI H13 die steel after plasma nitriding in a gas mixture of N2:H2 at 20:80, 50:50, and 80:20 (volume ratio) at a fixed time and temperature. This work aimed to analyze the sliding wear performance of the plasma-nitrided tool die steel in hot-forming operations at higher loads. Scanning electron microscopy/electron-dispersive spectroscopy (SEM/EDS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques were used to study the microstructures of the H13 die steel pins after plasma nitriding. Wear tests were performed on a high-temperature tribometer under uni-directional sliding and dry conditions using a high-temperature tribometer under a 50 N load at various operating temperatures ranging from 25 degrees C to 600 degrees C. The results show that the plasma-nitriding process with N2:H2 at 20:80 improved the wear behavior of H13 steel. The friction coefficients and wear volume losses for all the plasma-nitrided specimens were less than those of the untreated die steel.