Wear performance of low-energy-nitrogen-implanted stainless steels in a corroding environment

Wear-corrosion of 304 stainless steel and N-2(+) implanted 304 stainless steel has been studied using a pin-on-disk apparatus developed at the Albany Research Center. A nitriding process, utilizing low energy (3-10 keV) N-2(+) implantation at high temperature (400-450 degrees C) has been demonstrated for a variety of steels. Nitride layers up to 10 mu m in thickness, with hardnesses approaching 8 GPa have been produced by this technique. The wear test apparatus allows the examination of metals and alloys in a sliding wear-corrosion environment, and uses electrochemical control to study the effects of wear alone, corrosion alone, and wear-corrosion Pin-on-disk testing in corrosive media suggests that an improvement in wear resistance is realized without significant degradation of the corrosion response.