Investigation of the Structural, Tribological, and Electrochemical Properties of Nitrided and Boronized AISI 316L Stainless Steel

In this study, a plasma nitriding process was applied at 500 ℃ for 3 and 6 h and a pack boriding process was applied at 950 ℃ for 2 and 6 h to specimens of the biomaterial AISI 316L SS. After coating, open circuit potential and potentiodynamic polarization experiments were performed in simulated body fluid. Wear tests were conducted in both dry and simulated body fluid conditions to determine the tribological properties of untreated and coated samples. As observed in the study, both the applied surface treatments improved the structural, tribological, and mechanical properties of 316L stainless steel. According to the results, the best wear performance and hardness values were obtained from 6 h pack boronized samples at 950 °C. In addition, the corrosion resistance values of nitrided and borided samples were closer to each other than to those of untreated samples. The corrosion resistance values of untreated 316L stainless steel samples exceeded those of all coated samples.