Thermal fatigue characteristics of plasma duplex treated nodular cast irons

The correlation between the thermal fatigue resistance and microstructure of untreated and plasma surface engineered nodular cast irons was investigated. Both the ferrite and pearlite matrix nodular cast irons were evaluated. During the tests, 60 mm long cylinders with 20 mm diameter were subjected to 1000 high frequency induction heating and water cooling cycles, lasting 7 and 5 s, respectively. The thermal fatigue damage was evaluated by analyzing the crack dimensions and distributions. The results showed that the plasma surface treatment increased thermal fatigue resistance. When thermal cracking occurred, the cracks always nucleated at the surface of the specimen. In addition, the nodular cast iron with a pearlite matrix had a better resistance to thermal fatigue than that of the ferrite matrix.     

Duplex surface treatment of an AISI 316L stainless steel; microstructure and tribological behaviour

Austenitic stainless steel AISI 316L is used in several industrial applications, mainly due to its excellent corrosion resistance; however, its low hardness and poor wear performance impose strong limitations in many cases. A combination of DC-pulsed plasma nitriding and plasma assisted PVD coating as a surface treatment has been shown to improve the material fatigue and wear resistance without affecting the corrosion performance. In the present work a duplex treatment, consisting of a plasma nitriding at 673 K for 20 h and a subsequent coating with a TiN layer was applied to an AISI 316L steel. The microstructure obtained as well as the tribological behaviour was extensively studied. Wear tests were performed in rolling-sliding condition under different loads (490, 1225 and 1960 N). Different wear mechanisms were observed depending on the normal applied load. Analysis and discussion of the wear test results showed that the combination of the two processes, plasma nitriding and plasma assisted PVD coating, improves considerably the wear resistance of the AISI 316L. At low applied loads, the duplex treatment improved significantly the wear resistance during the sliding/rolling contact, i.e. only abrasion was observed. However, upon increasing the applied loads fatigue and delamination wear mechanism appeared. In the case of the highest applied load, delamination was the main wear mechanism observed in the tested samples.     

Response to thermal cycling of plasma nitrided hot work tool steel at elevated temperatures

Thermal fatigue performance of plasma nitrided hot work tool steel was investigated under conditions encountered by thixoforging dies in semi-solid processing of steels. Plasma nitriding does not offer any improvement in the thermal fatigue performance of hot work tool steels at elevated temperatures, due essentially to poor resistance to oxidation and to temper softening. Fe₃O₄ and Fe₂O₃ scales produced on the nitrided surface fail to sustain the thermal stresses produced by thermal cycling. They spall off, generating fresh surfaces for further oxidation. This sequence leads to substantial material loss and impairs the integrity of the surface beyond a quality level that would be tolerated in steel thixoforming. The surface hardening provided by plasma nitriding is also completely erased. The tempered martensitic structure is replaced by fine, equiaxed ferritic grains implying a dynamic recrystallization process during thermal cycling.     

H13钢低温等离子渗氮层的热疲劳性能

采用扫描电子显微镜、透射电子显微镜、光学显微镜、显微硬度计、XRD等研究了H13钢表面经过机械研磨处理(SMAT)后420℃的离子渗氮效果。结果表明,经过机械研磨处理后,H13钢表层形成一层厚度约10μm的塑性变形层。经420℃离子渗氮4 h后,普通抛光试样和经SMAT处理后试样的渗氮层总厚度分别为90μm和120μm,表明SMAT处理对H13钢离子渗氮具有一定的促渗作用,SMAT试样表层的硬度约为1102.5 HV0.1;热疲劳试验结果表明SMAT试样表现出更好的抗热疲劳性能。     

Influence of plasma nitriding on plain fatigue and fretting fatigue behaviour of AISI 304 austenitic stainless steel

AISI 304 austenitic stainless steel samples were plasma nitrided at 420 °C for 6 h in vacuum atmosphere by glow discharge technique, in the presence of nitrogen gas. Plain fatigue and fretting fatigue tests were carried out on unnitrided and plasma nitrided samples. Plasma nitrided samples exhibited higher surface hardness, compressive residual stresses at the surface and lower surface roughness compared with unnitrided samples. However, plasma nitrided samples exhibited inferior plain fatigue and fretting fatigue lives compared with unnitrided samples. This was attributed to segregation of chromium at the grain boundaries of plasma nitrided specimens which might have weakened the regions near grain boundaries resulting in early crack initiation and accelerated crack propagation.     

Tribological properties of duplex Cr-Si-N coatings on SS410 steel

Hardness and other mechanical properties of CrN can be enhanced by adding small amounts of Si, an effect that can possibly be attributed to solid solution hardening. In the present work, tribological properties of the Cr-Si-N coatings on SS410 steel substrates were studied. These samples were prepared by a duplex treatment consisting of surface nitriding and deposition of a Cr bond-coat, which also provides the highest adhesion. The influence of silicon concentration on the tribological properties was determined by ball-on-disc and ball-on-flat tests, while the wear mechanism against an alumina ball was assessed by analyzing the wear track and the wear debris using SEM, EDX and Raman spectroscopy. It was found that the coating containing 2.3 at.% of Si, corresponding to the solubility limit, exhibits the best mechanical and tribological performance: the wear rate of the SS410 substrate has been reduced by a factor of 500, corresponding to a hardness and wear coefficient of 25 GPa and 2-4 × 10^− 7 mm³/N m, respectively.     

Thermal fatigue behavior of medium carbon steel with striated non-smooth surface

Imitating the body surface morphology of some biological systems, the medium carbon steel specimens with biomimetic surface were manufactured by laser processing technique. The key feature of this biomimetic surface is to arrange a various spacing of striations to create a non-smooth working surface. The thermal fatigue behavior of specimens with different surfaces, i.e. the specimen with 2-mm-spacing striations, 4-mm-spacing striations and smooth surface, was investigated and compared. It was found that the biomimetic surface has a beneficial effect on improving the thermal fatigue behavior of medium carbon steel, and that the specimen with 2-mm-spacing striations had the highest resistance to thermal fatigue. Compared with the base material, the striation zone on the non-smooth surface was mainly characterized by the refinement of grains and the alteration of microstructure.

Based on such strengthening mechanism as well as the emergence of huge compressive residual stress in the striation zone, the pile–nail effect, which is proposed initially and can be explained by crack retardation mechanism together with stress counteraction mechanism, is the main reason for enhancing the thermal fatigue resistance of medium carbon steel with biomimetic surface.     

Thermal fatigue resistance of plasma sprayed yttria-stabilised zirconia onto borided hot work tool steel, bonded with a NiCrAlY coating: Experiments and modelling

Repeated fast surface temperature transients can damage the materials and/or their surface treatments by thermal fatigue. This happens in aluminium diecasting devices. One conducted thermal fatigue tests with samples of hot work tool steel, respectively untreated, simply borided and protected by a multi-layer. In the last case, top coat is yttria stabilised zirconia (YSZ), followed by a nickel superalloy and then a borided layer (undercoat). The zirconia coating was applied with plasma spray. The multi-layer showed poor resistance during the thermal fatigue tests. Better understanding these tests and the resulting thermal fatigue observed on the treated materials was achieved by a lifetime model based on Coffin-Manson equations.     

High temperature wear and friction properties of duplex surface treated bearing steels

Duplex treatments by thermo reactive diffusion (TRD) chromizing and puls plasma nitriding were carried out on AISI 52100 and 8620 bearing steels. Tribological behaviors of TRD chromized and duplex treated bearing steels were investigated against Al₂O₃ ball in ball-on-disc system at room temperature and 500 °C. The samples were pack chromized in a furnace at temperature of 1000 °C for 5 h. After chromizing, the samples were puls plasma nitrided for 5 h at 500 °C. The coated steels were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scratch and microhardness testing. Plasma nitriding of chromized steels increased the total thickness of the compound layer. The subsequent plasma nitriding increased the surface hardness to 2135 HK_0.025 due to the formation of CrN and Cr₂N. The surface hardness and scratch resistance of coating can be increased with duplex treatment of chromizing followed by plasma nitriding, resulting in high wear resistance. Tribological tests indicated that puls plasma nitriding process decreased the coefficient of friction values and wear rate of the chromized steels at room temperature and 500 °C. Also, examination of the worn surface of the samples showed that particularly at high temperature, the oxidized compact layer occurs and tribo-oxidation played an important role in oxidation behaviour of the steels after the duplex treatment.     

Corrosion and mechanical properties of duplex-treated 301 stainless steel

Plasma nitriding is a widely used technique for increasing the surface hardness of stainless steels, and consequently, for improving their tribological properties. It is also used to create an interface between soft stainless steel substrates and hard coatings to improve adhesion. This paper reports on the mechanical and corrosion properties of AISI301 stainless steel (SS) after a duplex treatment consisting of plasma nitriding followed by deposition of Cr bond coat and CrSiN top layer by magnetron sputtering. Mechanical properties of the deposited films, such as hardness (H) and reduced Young's modulus (E_r), were measured using depth-sensing indentation. Potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) were carried out to evaluate resistance to localized and to general corrosion, respectively. The corrosion behavior has been correlated with the microstructure and composition of the surface layers, determined by complementary characterization techniques, including XRD, SEM, and EDS. The CrSiN layers exhibited an H value of 24 GPa, whereas the nitrided layer was shown to present a gradual increase of H from 5 GPa (in the nitrogen-free SS matrix) to almost 14 GPa at the surface. The electrochemical measurements showed that the nitriding temperature is a critical parameter for defining the corrosion properties of the duplex-treated SS. At a relatively high temperature (723 K), the nitrided layer exhibited poor corrosion resistance due to the precipitation of chromium nitride compounds and the depletion of Cr in the iron matrix. This, in turn, leads to poor corrosion performance of the duplex-treated SS since pores and defects in the CrSiN film were potential sites for pitting. At relatively low nitriding temperature (573 K), the nitrided interface exhibited excellent corrosion resistance due to the formation of a compound-free diffusion layer. This is found to favor passivation of the material at the electrode/electrolyte interface of the duplex-treated SS.     

Influence of heat treatment and surface engineering on thermal fatigue behaviour of tool steel

Abstract

Thermal fatigue (TF) is a common problem in many tool steel components. It is caused by thermal cycling in presence of internal constraints. The resulting thermomechanical stresses induce thermal cracking (heat checking). A laboratory test was developed to reproduce TF damage on a laboratory scale, under oxidizing conditions. Two different test configurations were used to induce unidirectional and bidirectional cracking. Nitriding impairs TF resistance of plain steel due to the easier propagation of cracks through the diffusion layer. The efficacy of PVD coatings is dependent on their oxidation resistance and microstructure. The higher oxidation resistance of AlCrN/AlTiN than CrN results in delayed crack initiation. TF resistance is increased if the coating is free of defects and the interface adhesion is good.     

CL60车轮钢热处理后的接触疲劳寿命

研究了CL60钢在830 ℃保温30 min后马上放入水中冷却3~5 s,然后在500 ℃回火40 min,最后空冷至室温后的显微组织、力学性能及接触疲劳寿命,分析了夹杂物和残余应力对其接触疲劳寿命的影响。结果表明,热处理后,CL60车轮钢组织为细小均匀的索氏体,强塑性得到提高。径向载荷F＞1500 N时,随着径向载荷的增大,接触疲劳寿命呈几何倍数下降。组织中氧化铝夹杂降低车轮钢的接触疲劳强度,而硫化物对接触疲劳寿命影响较小。热处理后残余压应力增加,从而延长CL60钢接触疲劳寿命。     

Effect of heating post-treatment on nitrided stainless steel

Although plasma nitriding has been applied successfully to increase the hardness of austenitic stainless steels, the process cycles are long due to the low nitrogen diffusion rate for these steels. An alternative to reduce the nitriding time is to perform a heating treatment after nitriding to prolong the diffusion process. In this work we investigate the properties of plasma nitrided AISI 316 stainless steel after heating post-treatments. The samples were nitrided at 823 K during 3 h. After nitriding, heating post-treatments were performed in a vacuum furnace. The influence of the heating time, ranging from 1 up to 16 h, and heating temperatures, varying from 732 up to 873 K, on the surface properties was investigated. The samples were characterized using microhardness testing, scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. The nitriding treatment results in a compound layer 44 μm thick with a hardness of 1434 HV_0.1, consisting predominantly of γ'-[Fe₄N] and CrN phases. As expected, an increase of the compound layer thickness and a decrease of the surface hardness with heating time were observed. However, the microhardness profiles show that beneath the surface the layer hardness increases for long treatment times. New phases as Fe₃O₄ and FeCr₂O₄ appear and grow with increasing heating time.     

Improvement of the cavitation erosion resistance of UNS S31803 stainless steel by duplex treatment

A duplex surface treatment consisting of High Temperature Gas Nitriding (HTGN) followed by Low Temperature Plasma Nitriding (LTPN) was carried out in an UNS S31803 duplex stainless steel. The HTGN treatment was intended to produce a relatively thick and hard fully austenitic layer giving mechanical support to the thinner and much harder expanded austenite layer. HTGN was performed at 1200 °C for 3 h, in a 0.1 MPa N₂ atmosphere while LTPN, was carried out in a 75% N₂ + 25% H₂ atmosphere, at 400 °C for 12 h, under a 250 Pa pressure, and 450 V. An expanded austenite γ_N layer, 2.3 μm thick, 1500 HV0.025 hard, was formed on top of a 100 μm thick, 330 HV 0.1 hard, fully austenitic layer, containing 0.9 wt% N. For comparison purposes LTPN was carried out with UNS S30403 stainless steel specimens obtaining a 4.0 μm thick, 1500 HV 0.025 hard, expanded austenite layer formed on top of a fully austenitic matrix having 190 HV 0.1. The nitrided specimens were tested in a 20 kHz vibratory cavitation-erosion testing equipment. Comparison between the duplex treated UNS S31803 steel and the low temperature plasma nitrided UNS S30403 steel, resulted in incubation times almost 9 times greater. The maximum cavitation wear rate of the LTPN UNS S30403 was 5.5 g/m²h, 180 times greater than the one measured for the duplex treated UNS S31803 steel. The greater cavitation wear resistance of the duplex treated UNS S31803 steel, compared to the LTPN treated UNS S30403 steel was explained by the greater mechanical support the fully austenitic, 330 HV 0.1 hard, 100 μm layer gives to the expanded austenite layer formed on top of the specimen after LTPN. A strong crystallographic textured surface, inherited from the fully austenitic layer formed during HTGN, with the expanded austenite layer showing {101} crystallographic planes//surface contributed also to improve the cavitation resistance o f the duplex treated steel.     

Tribological properties of duplex treated TiN/TiCN coatings on plasma nitrided PH15-5 steel

Nitriding was carried out in low pressure plasma excited by single- or dual-frequency discharge modes, at a substrate temperature of 523 K, followed by the deposition of 3 μm thick TiCN or TiN/TiCN coatings at a PH15-5 substrate temperature of 723 K. The nitrided layer was comprised of two distinct sublayers, namely a compound layer and a diffusion layer, with a total thickness of ∼ 60 μm. The compound layer was γ′-Fe₄N and the diffusion layer was a solid solution of nitrogen in iron. The thickness of the compound layer fabricated by a single mode plasma is ∼ 5 μm, while that fabricated by dual-frequency mode plasma is ∼ 35 μm.It was found, using a ball-on-disk test, that the plasma nitrided layer fabricated by dual-frequency mode improved wear resistance by nearly one order of magnitude and improved the erosion resistance by a factor of two, compared with untreated steel. This improvement was common to the two nitriding treatments and both types of hard coatings. In particular, a thicker compound layer did not impair the wear resistance or the erosion resistance of the duplex treatment. The erosion resistance shows a linear dependence on the hardness of the uppermost nitrided or deposited layer.     

锻造用贝氏体型非调质钢的高周疲劳性能

利用旋转弯曲疲劳试验方法研究了新开发的一种锻造用贝氏体型非调质钢的高周疲劳性能,并与典型的钒微合金化的铁素体-珠光体型非调质钢F38MnVS和调质钢40Cr进行了对比。结果表明,开发的贝氏体型非调质钢具有细小均匀的粒状贝氏体组织,在锻态的疲劳极限比达到了调质钢40Cr水平,但在正火后的疲劳性能有所降低。与同样钒微合金化的铁素体＋珠光体钢F38MnVS相比,具有粒状贝氏体组织的试验钢的疲劳极限比较低。对疲劳断口的分析表明,贝氏体钢的疲劳裂纹均起源于试样的基本表面,疲劳裂纹以准解理机制扩展。进一步裂纹扩展速率试验表明,贝氏体钢的疲劳裂纹扩展速率da/dN明显低于铁素体＋珠光体型非调质钢F38MnVS。     

热作模具钢SDH3热疲劳机理

采用自约束热疲劳试验方法,对比研究了SDH3与H13钢的热疲劳性能,应用扫描电镜研究了SDH3热疲劳过程中裂纹的萌生和扩展,应用透射电镜分析了SDH3钢热疲劳前后显微组织和结构的变化。结果表明:经常规热处理后,SDH3钢热疲劳性能优于H13钢;对SDH3钢来讲,热疲劳裂纹由三叉晶界处萌生,并沿晶界扩展;SDH3钢的马氏体板条间存在薄膜状残留奥氏体,可有效释放裂纹尖端的应力并阻碍裂纹扩展;热疲劳过程中,基体组织发生回复再结晶,碳化物粒子发生粗化。     

Mechanical and tribological properties of duplex treated TiN, nc-TiN/a-SiNx and nc-TiCN/a-SiCN coatings deposited on 410 low alloy stainless steel

The use of hard and superhard nanocomposite (nc) coatings with tailored functional properties is limited when applied to low alloy steel substrates due to their low load carrying capacity. Specifically in this work, in order to enhance the performance of martensitic SS410 substrates, we applied a duplex process which consisted of surface nitriding by radio-frequency plasma followed by the deposition of single layer (TiN, nc-TiN/a-SiN_x or nc-TiCN/a-SiCN) or multilayer (TiN/nc-TiN/a-SiN_x, TiN/nc-TiCN/a-SiCN) coating systems prepared by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD). We show that plasma nitriding gives rise to a diffusion layer at the surface due to diffusion of nitrogen and formation of the α-Fe and ε-Fe₂N phases, respectively, leading to a surface hardness, H, of 11.7 GPa, compared to H = 5 GPa for the untreated steel. Among the TiN, nc-TiN/a-SiN_x and nc-TiCN/a-SiCN coatings, the latter one possesses the highest H value of 42 GPa and the highest H³/E_r² ratio of 0.83 GPa. Particularly, the TiN/nc-TiCN/a-SiCN multilayer coating system exhibits superior tribological properties compared to single layer TiN and multilayer TiN/nc-TiN/a-SiN_x coatings: this includes excellent adhesion, low friction (C_f = 0.17) and low wear rate (K = 1.6 × 10^− 7 mm³/N m). The latter one represents an improvement by a factor of 600 compared to the bare SS410 substrate. The significance of the relationship between the H/E and H³/E_r² ratios and the tribological performance of the nano-composite coatings is discussed.     

Effect of different thermochemical treatments on the electrochemical behaviour of a hot working steel

The X 37CrMoV5 1 KU hot working steel has been quenched and tempered, overcarburised, nitrided and nitrocarburised. The surface layers constituted after the thermochemical treatments were characterised by means of X‐ray diffraction (XRD) analyses, optical and scanning electron microscope (SEM) observations, micro‐ and macrohardness indentations. The electrochemical behaviour was evaluated in two different aggressive environments: 0.1 M Na₂SO₄ and 0.1 M NaCl solutions. While the overcarburised and the nitrocarburised samples exhibit a poor electrochemical behaviour, the presence of a nitrided surface layer enhances the corrosion resistance. This is attributable to the protective action of the nitrided layer that hinders the anodic dissolution reaction of the matrix, whereas the presence of complex carbides in the overcarburised or nitrocarburised samples causes the preferential dissolution of the ferritic matrix due to galvanic coupling phenomena. Finally, the poor corrosion resistance exhibited by the nitrocarburised sample can be ascribed to the presence of a large amount of ferrite together with little ε solid solution in the surface layer.     

H13钢热疲劳性能研究

以盐浴法为手段,对H13钢进行了热疲劳实验,探讨了淬火温度、回火温度、表面处理对其热疲劳失效裂纹的影响并确定了合理的热处理工艺。实验得出:试样热疲劳循环次数在400个周期时,裂纹形成后扩展迅速,裂纹平均生长速度约为2.51×10-3mm/周,而采用1 020℃淬火、640℃回火热处理工艺,与裂纹平均生长速度相比,热疲劳裂纹生长速度减缓了0.45×10-3mm/周,表面渗氮的试样裂纹源可推迟50个热疲劳循环周期。