Structure and properties of stainless steels after plasma immersion ion implantation and plasma nitriding

Stainless steels can be nitrided at temperatures less than or equal to 400 degrees C to increase their hardness and wear resistance without a decreasi ng of their excellent corrosion resistance. Structure and properties of the surface layers produced by plasma nitriding and plasma immersion ion impla ntation in this temperature range were tested. There are negligible differe nces in the structure of the produced surface layers in spite of different interaction principles of the used technologies. However there are clear di fferences between the case of different steels. The case of ferritic chromi um steels mainly consists of E-nitride. Whereas the cases of austenitic and ferritic austenitic steels are characterized by expanded austenite. The co rrosion resistance of the steels is reduced by nitriding only, if evident C rN-formation occurs.