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Effects of the Process Parameters on the Microstructure and Properties of Nitrided 17-4PH Stainless Steel

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Abstract

The effects of process parameters on the microstructure, microhardness, and dry-sliding wear behavior of plasma nitrided 17-4PH stainless steel were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and wear testing. The results show that a wear-resistant nitrided layer was formed on the surface of direct current plasma nitrided 17-4PH martensitic stainless steel. The microstructure and thickness of the nitrided layer is dependent on the treatment temperature rather than process pressure. XRD indicated that a single α N phase was formed during nitriding at 623 K (350 °C). When the temperature increased, the α N phase disappeared and CrN transformed in the nitrided layer. The hardness measurement demonstrated that the hardness of the stainless substrate steel increased from 320 HV0.1 in the untreated condition increasing to about 1275HV0.1 after nitriding 623 K (350 °C)/600 pa/4 hours. The extremely high values of the microhardness achieved by the great misfit-induced stress fields associated with the plenty of dislocation group and stacking fault. Dry-sliding wear resistance was improved by DC plasma nitriding. The best wear-resistance performance of a nitrided sample was obtained after nitriding at 673 K (350 °C), when the single α N-phase was produced and there were no CrN precipitates in the nitrided layer.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are very grateful to the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 50901047) for financial support of this research work. J.W. thanks Prof. Luo Defu of Xihua University, China, for his valuable discussions during the course of the research and Prof. Trevor Dean of Birmingham University for his generous revision of the manuscript’s grammar.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Manufacturing Science and Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610065, P.R. China

    Jun Wang (Associate Professor) & Hongyuan Fan (Professor)

  2. State Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Reservoir Geology and Exploitation, Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu, 610500, P.R. China

    Yuanhua Lin (Professor) & Dezhi Zeng (Associate Professor)

  3. Southwest Oil and Gasfield Company Research Institute of Natural Gas, Chengdu, 610023, P.R. China

    Jing Yan (Engineer)

Authors
  1. Jun Wang
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  2. Yuanhua Lin
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  3. Dezhi Zeng
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  4. Jing Yan
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  5. Hongyuan Fan
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Correspondence to Jun Wang.

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Manuscript submitted April 27, 2012.

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Wang, J., Lin, Y., Zeng, D. et al. Effects of the Process Parameters on the Microstructure and Properties of Nitrided 17-4PH Stainless Steel. Metall Mater Trans B 44, 414–422 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11663-012-9781-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11663-012-9781-9

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