The sputter etching was carried out on a W Cr tool steel specimen quenched at 1373 K using argon plasma to form conical or ring shaped carbide protrusions on the surface. Nano indentation tests were used to investigate deformation characteristics of the protrusions from load P vs. displacement h curves at maximum loads of 10, 50 and 245 mN. For the surface layer with conical protrusions, the P h curve at the maximum load of 245 mN is almost similar to that of the specimen without sputter etching. The reason is explained by a balance of two factors, i.e. the hard carbide layer decreases the deformation during the indentation, while the soft region formed by the depletion of carbide forming elements under the carbide layer increases the deformation especially after the carbide layer is cracked by the indentation. When the maximum indentation load is 10 mN, the scatter of P h curves appears reflecting different indentation positions such as the top or side of the protrusions. For a mixture of the thick block like layers with ring shaped protrusions and the matrix areas surrounded by them, the maximum displacement and recovery after unloading are both large when the maximum load is 245 mN. The reason will be that the elastic deformation of the thick block like layers supports the indentation load decreasing the plastic deformation of the soft region under the layers. When the indentation load is 10 mN, the scatter of displacement is very large depending on the indentation either to the protrusions or to the soft matrix region. Tempering after the sputter etching increases the deformation resistance of the whole layer perhaps due to the precipitation of fine carbides in the soft region under the carbide layer.
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