This article is cited in 33 papers

Solids

Effect of the electron beam and ion flux parameters on the rate of plasma nitriding of an austenitic stainless steel

N. V. Gavrilov, A. I. Men'shakov

Institute of Electrophysics, Ural Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Ekaterinburg

Abstract: The method of nitriding of metals in an electron beam plasma is used to change the current density and energy of nitrogen ions by varying the electron beam parameters (5–20 A, 60–500 eV). An electron beam is generated by an electron source based on a self-heated hollow cathode discharge. Stainless steel 12Kh18N10T is saturated by nitrogen at 500$^\circ$C for 1 h. The microhardness is measured on transverse polished sections to obtain the dependences of the nitrided layer thickness on the ion current density (1.6–6.2 mA/cm$^2$), the ion energy (100–300 eV), and the nitrogen-argon mixture pressure (1–10 Pa). The layer thickness decreases by 4–5 $\mu$m when the ion energy increases by 100 V and increases from 19 to 33 $\mu$m when the ion current density increases. The pressure dependence of the layer thickness has a maximum. These results are in conflict with the conclusions of the theory of the limitation of the layer thickness by ion sputtering, and the effective diffusion coefficient significantly exceeds the well-known reported data.

Received: 11.05.2011

 English version: Technical Physics, 2012, 57:3, 399–404

Bibliographic databases:

•