Tribological performance of plasma nitrided H13 mould steel at elevated temperatures

Abstract

A nitrided layer was prepared on H13 mould steel by plasma nitriding. The characteristics of obtained nitrided layer were analysed using an ultra-depth of field microscope, atomic force microscope and X-ray diffraction, and the effect of elevated temperature on the wear performance was investigated using a ball-on-disk wear tester. The results show that the nitrided layer is composed of ϵ-Fe2-3N and γ′-Fe4N phases, which increases the substrate hardness by 111%. The nitrided layer at 800° exhibits superior friction reduction and wear resistance, and the wear mechanism is oxidative wear, which is contributed to the wear-resistant protective layer on the worn track.

Surface modification of AISI-420 steel by cathodic cage plasma niobium nitride deposition

“…The weak adhesion of the coating is caused by significant differences in the hardness of the coating and substrate; as a result, it can deteriorate the wear and corrosion resistance. This issue can be resolved by introducing a transition layer with a moderate surface hardness, such as a thermochemical diffusion process (including plasma nitriding or nitrocarburising [16][17][18] ), before hard film deposition. The combined processing by plasma nitriding and hard film deposition is called duplex treatment.…”