The Abrasion Behaviour of X40CrMoV5-1 Steel Under Various Surface Treatments

Abstract

Abstract For evolving a surface layer on the X40CrMoV5-1 steel, a plasma-nitridation and PVD coating process was applied. In our experiments, the samples were heat-treated (high-temperature hardening, annealed three times) and surface treatments (plasma-nitridation, PVD coating by TiAlN, duplex surface treating by plasma nitridation and after that, PVD coating TiAlN). After the heat treatments, we performed hardness tests and surface abrasion wear tests. The abrasion wear resistance of the specimens was studied in order to understand the heat treatment effects on abrasion behaviour. It was observed that the heat treatment and surface treatment process greatly influence the tool steel surface hardness and abrasion resistance behaviour. By plasma-nitridation the surface hardness doubled compared to the quenched surface hardness while the PVD coated TiAlN surface layer hardness is more than five times that of the hardened one. There was no relevant difference between the PVD coated (TiAlN) surface hardness and the duplex surface-treated hardness. On the basis of the results of the comparative abrasive wear tests, it can be concluded that the duplex surface treatment resulted in the greatest wear resistance..