An investigation of the properties and wear behaviour of plasma-nitrided hot-working steel (H13)

The microstructural properties and wear behaviour of AISI H13 steel which had been plasma nitrided at 530 and 550 °C for times between 4 and 100 h have been investigated. The effect of treatment temperature and time on the microstructure have been examined. The wear behaviour of material treated for 4 and 100 h has also been observed. It was seen that a total case depth of 0.55 mm with a hardness of 1000 HV can be achieved in 100 h. However, the white layer thickness is increased to 17 μm while the core hardness is reduced to 480 HV at 550 °C. The wear rate of the sample treated at 550 °C for 100 h is higher than that of the sample treated at 550 °C for 4 h.