A comparative study of mechanical and tribological properties of AISI-304 and AISI-316 submitted to glow discharge nitriding

• Published in: Materials research (São Carlos, São Paulo, Brazil) Vol. 12; no. 2; pp. 173 - 180
• Main Authors: Nascimento, Fabiana Cristina, Foerster, Carlos Eugênio, Silva, Silvio Luiz Rutz da, Lepienski, Carlos Mauricio, Siqueira, Carlos José de Mesquita, Alves Junior, Clodomiro
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English; Portuguese
• Published: ABM, ABC, ABPol 01.06.2009; Associação Brasileira de Metalurgia e Materiais (ABM); Associação Brasileira de Cerâmica (ABC); Associação Brasileira de Polímeros (ABPol)
• Subjects: austenitic steels; ENGINEERING, CHEMICAL; hardness; MATERIALS SCIENCE, MULTIDISCIPLINARY; mechanical properties; METALLURGY & METALLURGICAL ENGINEERING; nitriding; hardness; austenitic steels; nitriding; mechanical properties
• ISSN: 1516-1439; 1980-5373; 1516-1439; 1980-5373
• DOI: 10.1590/S1516-14392009000200011

Mechanical and tribological properties os AISI 304 and AISI 316 stainless steels submited to glow discharge ion nitriding are reported.The atmosphere was 20:80 - N2:H2 with substrate temperatures ranging from 300 to 500 °C. Treatment at 300 °C produced expanded austenite (γN) in both steels. Increasing the temperature, the phases γ´-Fe4N and - Fe2+xN were present and the latter is the major phase for AISI 304. At 500 °C, the CrN phase was also identified in both steels. Hardnesses of about 13-14 GPa at near surface regions were obtained in both steels. Moreover, AISI 316 nitrided at 500 °C has the deepest hard layer. Tribological tests showed that wear can be reduced by up to a factor of six after the nitriding processes, even for a working temperature of 300 °C. The profiles during and after nanoscratch tests did not reveal significant differences after nitriding processes in both steels.