Jc. Jiang et Ei. Meletis, Microstructure of the nitride layer of AISI 316 stainless steel produced by intensified plasma assisted processing, J APPL PHYS, 88(7), 2000, pp. 4026-4031
Nitrided austenitic 316 stainless steel produced by intensified plasma assi
sted processing has been studied by transmission electron microscopy (TEM),
high-resolution TEM, and image simulation techniques. Cross-sectional TEM
studies showed that the nitride layer is composed of a single phase that wa
s found to possess a simple cubic structure. This nitride is produced by in
troducing one N atom into one of the interstitial sites of the octahedra wi
thin the unit cell of the gamma-austenite. The lattice constant of the nitr
ided simple cubic structure was determined to be a = 3.78 Angstrom, which i
s expanded by about 5.4% from that of austenite. Stacking faults, antiphase
domains, and antiphase domain boundaries in the nitride layer were observe
d using dark-field and high-resolution TEM imaging. The evolution of the ni
tride phase seems to be preceded by lattice expansion and formation of stac
king faults due to the presence of N and is consistent with the observed la
ttice constant reduction with depth. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics
. [S0021-8979(00)06019-9].