ELECTRON-BEAM HARDENING OF ION NITRIDED LAYERS

The effect of high speed scan electron beam treatment of ion nitrided layers was studied. The experiments were performed using samples from conventional ion nitriding steel with nominal composition (wt%) of 0.4 2% C, 0.96% Cr, 0.6% Mn, 0.37% Si balance Fe. The hardness of the elec tron beam hardened layer varies in the range 800-850 HV. The high hard ness is due to the refined structure consisting of alpha-solid solutio n (nitrous martensite) and gamma-solid solution (nitrous austenite) an d dispersed fine nitride precipitation's. The wear resistance of elect ron beam treated layer is twice increased compared to the one of ion n itrided specimen. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.