Conclusion

Nitrocarburizing followed by oxidation resulted in the

formation of magnetite (Fe3O4) in the pore at the top
followed by 15–20 lm of the compound layer ((e-Fe2-
3(N,C) and c0 -Fe4(N,C)) and around 400-450 lm of the
diffusion layer.
•
Residual stress of compressive nature was observed up
to more than 1000 lm depth. The maximum compres
sive residual stress of 383 MPa was observed.
•
After surface treatment, the average surface hardness of
801 HV0.1 was obtained which was more than double
the core hardness (325–335 HV0.1). Improvement in
surface hardness resulted in increase of slurry-erosion
resistance. A signifificant improvement in fatigue prop
erties was obtained after surface treatment in both air as
well as 3.5 wt% NaCl solution.

Short this points

Figure 9 shows the comparison of RBF test results in terms
of stress amplitude versus number of cycles (S–N curve)
for both bare and surface-treated samples tested in the air
(Fig. 9a) and aqueous 3.5 wt% NaCl solution (Fig. 9b). In
air, surface-treated samples have shown improvement in
fatigue life as compared to bare 4330V materials. In the air,
the endurance limits of surface-treated and bare samples
are observed to be 600 MPa and 500 MPa, respectively.
High surface hardness and compressive residual stress fifield
in surface-treated samples are responsible for the
improvement in fatigue properties than bare samples tested
in air [26, 28]. When samples are tested in an aqueous
3.5 wt% NaCl solution, both bare and surface-treated
samples fail at lower stress. However, the increment in
fatigue life of surface-treated samples is observed com
pared to bare samples. This improvement in fatigue life is
associated with the presence of corrosion-resistant top In order to
understand the modes of failure, fractographs
were analysed for samples tested in the air as well as in
corrosive media. Fractographs of bare and surface-treated
samples tested in the air are shown in Fig. 10a–d,
respectively.
In both cases, the typical fifish-eye formation is observed.
However, the larger size of the fifish eye is observed in the
surface-treated samples compared to the bare samples. The
larger fifish eye represents higher fatigue life [29]. Crack
initiation is observed from subsurface inclusion. By EDS
analysis, it is confifirmed that the presence of oxide inclu
sion is the root cause for crack initiation. The fractographs
of bare and surface-treated samples tested in 3.5 wt% NaCl
are shown in Fig. 10a0 –d0 , respectively. In both cases,
several pits’ initiation sites are observed. Comparatively
smaller pits are observed in case of surface-treated samples
than bare samples.

. In the present work, gas

eous nitrocarburizing followed by water spray oxidation in
vacuum has been carried out to fifill those pores. Improve
ment in the tribological property is observed when post
oxidation treatment is carried out using a mixture of
O2 ? H2
than pure oxygen [17]. High carbon lath
martensitic structure is observed in the diffusion layer a