Increasing wear resistance of austenitic stainless steel by anodic plasma electrolytic nitrocarburising

Abstract

Abstract The effect of plasma electrolytic nitrocarburising on the wear resistance of 12Cr18Ni10Ti steel was investigated. The phase composition of the modified layer and the surface morphology were studied using X-ray analysis and scanning electron microscope. The wear of the specimens was determined with dry friction of the lateral surface of a cylindrical specimen against a bearing steel disc (60 HRC). It is shown that anodic PEN/C of steel samples results in the formation of a hardened layer with a microhardness up to 370 HV due to its saturation with nitrogen and carbon followed by quenching. The wear resistance of steel enhances by 8.5 times after treatment in a solution of carbamide (12 wt. %) and ammonium chloride (10 wt. %) at 800 °C for 5 min with quenching in an electrolyte.