Improvement of mechanical and tribological properties of stainless steel by a duplex plasma treatment

• Published in: Materials for Advanced Metallization (MAM), European Workshop Vol. 54; no. 291; pp. 326 - 328
• Main Authors: Mabille-Rouger, I, Mouri, L, Dupont, S, Fiaud, C, Amouroux, J, Catillon, G, Gras, J
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 06.06.1999
• ISSN: 1266-0167

The aim of this work was the improvement of mechanical properties of austenitic stainless steel samples (304L) by a cold plasma treatment consisting in a nitriding treatment N sub 2 /H sub 2 useful 25% N sub 2 /75% H sub 2 ) followed by carbon treatment CH sub 4 /H sub 2 useful 5% CH sub 4 /95% H sub 2 ) (duplex treatment in a inductively coupled plasma reactor with a radio-frequency generator (40 MHt). The modifications of the corrosion resistance properties of the stainless steel were investigated by electrochemical tests. Surface analytical techniques (XPS-SIMS) were also used to study the chemical modifications of the stainless steel samples. It was shown that the nitriding treatment strongly increases the microhardness of stainless steel but strongly decreases the corrosion resistance. In this case chemical analysis evidenced the presence of chromium nitride layer. The duplex treatment led to the same conclusion as the nitriding treatment except that the hardness returned to the untreated steel value.