RF plasma nitriding of severely deformed iron-based alloys

The effect of severe plastic deformation by cold high pressure torsion (HPT) on radio frequency (RF) plasma nitriding of pure iron, as well as St2K50 and X5CrNi1810 steels was investigated. Nitriding was carried out for 3 h in a nitrogen atmosphere at a pressure of 10(-5) bar and temperatures of 350 and 400 degreesC. Nitrided specimens were analysed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction and micro hardness measurements. It was found that HPT enhances the effect of nitriding leading almost to doubling of the thickness of the nitrided layer for pure iron and the high alloyed steel. The largest increase in hardness was observed when HPT was combined with RF plasma nitriding at 350 degreesC. In the case of pure iron, the X-ray diffraction spectra showed the formation of epsilon and gamma' nitrides in the compound layer, with a preferential formation of gamma' at the expense of the alpha-phase at the higher nitriding temperature. The corresponding surface hardness was up to 950 HV0.01. While the HPT-processed St2K50 exhibits both nitride phases after nitriding at 350 degreesC, only the gamma'-phase was observed after nitriding at 400 degreesC. A surface hardness of up to 1050 HV0.01 was measured for this steel. The high alloyed steel X5CrNi1810 exhibited the highest increase in surface hardness when HPT was combined with nitriding at 350 degreesC. The surface hardness of this steel was greater than 1400 HV0.025. The XRD analyses indicate the formation of the expanded austenite (S-phase) in the surface layer as a result of RF plasma nitriding. Furthermore, after HPT X5CrNi1810 was transformed completely into deformation martensite which did not transform back to austenite under thermochemical treatment. However, in the case of nitriding of the HPT-processed high alloyed steel at 400 degreesC, the formation of the S-phase was less pronounced. In view of the observed XRD peak broadening, the formation of nitrides, such as e.g. CrN, cannot be ruled out. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.