Plasma-nitriding of tantalum at relatively low temperature

The combined quadratic orthogonal regression method of experiment design was employed to explore the effects of process parameters of plasma nitriding of tantalum such as total pressure, temperature and original hydrogen molar fraction on the hardness, roughness and structure of nitriding surfaces. The regression equations of hardness, roughness and structure were given according to the results of regression and statistic analysis. And the diffusion activation energy of nitrogen in tantalum on plasma nitriding conditions was calculated according to the experimental data of hardness of plasma-nitriding of tantalum vs time and temperature. The diffusion activation energy calculated belongs to (155.49 +/- 10.51) kJ/mol (783-983 K).