REVIEW PAPERS

A REVIEW ON PLASMA ION NITRIDING (PIN) PROCESS

By

RAVINDRA KUMAR * DHEERAJ BHARDWAJ ** Y. C. SHARMA ***

* Associate Lecturer, Department of Physics, Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Jaipur Campus, Rajasthan, India.
** Assistant Professor, Department of Physics, Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Jaipur Campus, Rajasthan, India.
*** Dean, Research & Development and Professor, Department of Physics, Vivekananda Global University, Jaipur,
Rajasthan, India.
Date Received: 29/03/2018 Date Revised: 18/05/2018 Date Accepted: 30/05/2018

ABSTRACT
In this review paper, an effort has been made to understand the plasma ion nitriding process and other existing nitriding
processes used in industries. The solubility of nitrogen atoms in the steel matrix have been explained through Fe-N system.
The formation of different stable and metastable compounds during nitriding process has been discussed. Different
types of nitriding processes have been thoroughly reviewed with their advantages and disadvantages. It was found that
plasma ion nitriding process is more reliable as compared to other existing processes in use. Important results of
diagnostics and its applications to improve the mechanical and chemical (corrosion) properties of ferrous and non-
ferrous alloys have been discussed. It was found that N2+, N+, NH, Ha
, and Hb
species exist in the plasma nitriding process,
but nitrogen ions (N+) was the most dominant species. Hydrogen plays a significant role in the plasma nitriding process. It
was reported that surface hardness and case depth were maximum for the gas ratio of 10% N2 and 90% H2. The effect of
various plasma nitriding process parameters and role of various alloying elements in the plasma nitriding process have
been also discussed. If the steel has strong nitride forming elements (Cr, Al, Mo, etc.) under low concentration (~ 1-2%),
the diffusion depth and hardness will be more. In the non-ferrous alloys, plasma nitrided samples have two or three
distinct layers that depends on the plasma reactivity. Nitrided layer increases only until the critical time and temperature
(450 oC) were reached.
Keywords: Plasma Nitriding, Surface Hardness, Wear Resistance, Corrosion.

INTRODUCTION
Nitriding is a thermo-chemical process. During this process,
nitrogen is introduced into the surface of ferrous and non-
ferrous alloys as interstitial solid solution. Plasma Ion nitriding
is an extension of conventional nitriding processes using
plasma-discharge mechanism. The frequently used
conventional nitriding processes are salt bath or liquid
nitriding, gas nitriding, and chrome plating. The traditional
salt bath nitriding was processed using liquid salt containing
cyanide and cyanate which were toxic and increases
ground pollution (Lee et al., 2010). However, later on air
accelerated salt bath technique called 'Sursulf Nitriding
(SN)' was developed in Germany, which is a non-toxic
process (Murthy and Rao, 1983). In this process, samples
were immersed into the molten salt bath, resulting in an
uniform nitride layer formed at the surface of the sample.
During this process, some salt was deposited on the surface
of the sample that must be needed proper cleaning after
processing (Bacci et al., 2001). In the gas nitriding process,
ammonia (NH3) gas was used for the treatment of sample
surface. It is an effective process to improve the surface
hardness and wear resistance of steel samples, but longer
treatment time is required (Pessin et al., 2000). Further, a
brittle nitride layer is formed and some dimensional
changes occurred during the process (Bacci et al., 2001).
The aforesaid difficulties have been removed in the
plasma nitriding process (Ochoa et al., 2009). It is a
diffusion process which can be carried out at low process
temperature. It provides many other advantages over
traditional nitriding process, such as reduced gas
consumption, reduced energy consumption, and it is an
environmental friendly process (Hannula et al., 1989;
Collins et al., 1995; Marchev et al., 1998; Larisch et al.,

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1999; Musil et al., 2000; Borges et al., 2001).

Since the mid-1960s, plasma nitriding equipments have
been commercially available (Mahboubi, 1998;
Kopeliovich, 2012). Plasma nitriding technique was first
used as a metallurgical processing tool (Skonieski et al.,
2013). The plasma nitriding is also known as Glow Discharge
Plasma Nitriding (GDPN) and Plasma Ion Nitriding (PIN). In
the plasma ion nitriding process, electric current flows
between two electrodes were placed in a sealed gas
environment. The gas atoms become excited and are
driven along a very short mean free path and collide with
other atoms. During this process, energy is released and a
glow is seen; the colour of glow depends on the type of gas
Figure 1. Iron-nitrogen Equilibrium Phase Diagram (Pye, 2003)
used. The principle of glow discharge phenomenon is well
understood by Paschen curve. In I-V characteristic of a DC to a maximum of 10.3 at %w. The g
' –Fe4N phase has a
discharge, different regions appear like: Townsend narrow composition range of 19.3−20.0 at % N. In ε-FexN
Discharge, Corona Discharge, Subnormal Glow Discharge, phase, N can be dissolved about 15 at % N to 33 at %N.
Normal Glow Discharge, Abnormal Glow Discharge, and However, the solubility limit of nitrogen in iron is temperature
Arc Discharge, respectively. Plasma ion nitriding is done in dependant. At 450 °C, iron absorbs nitrogen between 5.7
the abnormal glow region (Liang et al., 2001). and 6.1 wt%. Beyond 6.1 wt% of nitrogen, the epsilon
In this review paper, the solubility of nitrogen in iron and phase (ε) predominantly forms on the surface. This ε phase
formation of stable and unstable compounds have been is strongly influenced by the carbon content present in the
discussed through Fe-N system in Section 1. The different steel. Higher carbon content, required more potential to
kinds of nitriding processes have been discussed in detail in form the ε phase. As the temperature is further increased
Section 2. Plasma nitriding process is described separately upto 490 °C, Fe4N (g
’) phase is formed. The solubility of N
in Section 3. Plasma nitriding experimental setup is decreases at temperature of approximately 680 °C. The
described in Section 4. The findings of plasma nitriding equilibrium diagram shows that the control of the nitrogen
process and effects of various process parameters on diffusion is critical for success of plasma nitriding process
surface properties have been described in detail in Section (Pye, 2003; Kunze, 1990).
5. Conclusions of this study are given the last section. 2. Different Kinds of Nitriding Process and its Limitations
1. Fe-N System 2.1 Gas Nitriding
Nitriding is a thermo-chemical process of diffusion of In the gas nitriding process, nitrogen is introduced into the
nitrogen atom in the surface of steel. Diffusion process is surface of steel by holding it at a temperature between
strongly dependent on the solubility of nitrogen in iron. An 495°C and 600 °C in a Ammonia (NH3) gas environment.
equilibrium phase diagram of iron-nitrogen (Fe-N) binary The workpiece is heated in a furnace and ammonia gas
system has been shown in Figure 1. From the study of Fe-N begins to decompose. After certain reactions, atomic
system, it is seen that it consists of several solid solutions of N nitrogen forms and it diffuses into the steel surface. The
(a
,g
,e
), stable chemical compounds (g
' Fe4N, ξ-Fe2N), and typical thermo-dynamical reactions of decomposition
metastable phases (a
' -martensite, a
”-Fe16N2). The solubility take place at the steel surface in the following manner (Pye,
of atomic nitrogen (N) in the body centered cubic (bcc) 2003; Thomas et al., 1992; Spencer, 1992; Vandervell and
lattice of a
-Fe is about ~ 0.4 at %w N without noticeable Waugh, 1990; John, 2005):
changes in bcc lattice. In the g
phase, N can be dissolved NH3 ---------- 3H + N (1)

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2N------------- N2 (2) The produced surface compression prevents crack

2H--------------H2 (3)
At the instant of decomposition, the atomic nitrogen can
be adsorbed physically or chemically at the steel surface.
The physically adsorbed atomic nitrogen and hydrogen
are unstable and recombines to form nitrogen and
hydrogen molecule. While, chemically adsorbed nitrogen
atom have higher probability of getting diffuse in iron and
steel at this elevated temperature. Higher temperature
increases the probability of nitrogen diffusion faster into the
deeper depth. The atomic nitrogen has diameter 1.42 Å
and is dissolved in iron in interstitial position in octahedral
voids of cubic lattice. These voids have the diameter of
0.38 Å in bcc iron and 1.04 Å in fcc iron. The process of
diffusion of nitrogen at suitable process temperature is
known as interstitial diffusion.
2.2 Pack Nitriding
Pack nitriding is also known as powder nitriding. In this
process, the samples are packed in powdery solid nitrogen
bearing compounds in the presence of water, e.g. CaCN2,
with an addition of clay minerals. They are heated up to
nitriding temperature (470-570 °C) in a furnace. At this
nitriding temperature, compound slowly decomposes and
provides necessary nitrogen for the nitriding treatment as
given in equations below.
the range of 1-100 KeV. Energies lower than this value
CaCN2 + 3H2O ®
CaO + CO2 + 2NH3C + CO ® 2CO resulted in very little damage to the target, and fall under
(4) the designation ion beam deposition.
CO2 + H2 ®
CO + H2O (5)
2NH3 ®
2N + 3H2 (6)
The treatment times in this technique varies from 1 to 40
hours. The advantages of pack nitriding are low investment
cost, easy handling, and environmental friendliness while
the drawbacks are high amount of waste powder and a
difficult cooling other than in nitriding box (Hannula et al.,
1989).
2.3 Ion Implantation
In ion implantation process, the ions of one material is
implanted into another solid material, by which the
physical and chemical properties of the solid materials are
changed. This change in the physical property (structural
change) produces a surface compression in the material.
propagation and thus makes the material more resistant to
fracture (Pulkkinen and Lähdeniemi, 1984; Conard, 1987;
Tendys et al., 1988; Conard et al., 1987). The chemical
changes in the material also improve corrosion resistant
property. In the complete process, an ion beam of the
energy range between 40 keV and 1 MeV is used. This ion
beam penetrates into the iron surface to form an iron nitride
layer at low temperature (Terwagne et al., 1989a, 1989b;
Jagielski et al., 1994).
In the ion implantation equipment, an accelerator is used
to accelerate the ions at a high energy. A target material is
put in the chamber on which ions are to be implanted.
Each ion is typically a singly ionized atom, and thus the
actual amount of material implanted in the target is the
integral over time of the ion current. The current supplied by
conventional implanters are typically small (microamperes),
and thus the dose that can be implanted in a reasonable
amount of time is small. Thus, ion implantation finds
application in cases where the amount of chemical
changes required is small. Typically ion energy in the range
of 10 to 500 KeV are extensively used for implantation
purposes. Energies in the range 1 to 10 KeV can be used,
but result in a penetration of only a few nanometers or less.
The typical depth of penetration of N on Fe is 1 nm/ KeV in
2.4 Laser Nitriding
In the laser nitriding of iron, high-power density lasers are
used. In this process, iron nitride layer is formed with
thickness in the micron and mean nitrogen concentration
exceeding 10 wt%. However, the mechanism of the laser
nitriding is still not clearly understood because of the various
complicated interaction between the incident laser
radiation with the molten material and atmospheric
nitrogen takes place at the material surface (D'Anna et al.,
1992; Barnikel et al., 1997; Han, 2001).
2.5 Liquid Nitriding
Liquid nitriding is also known as salt bath nitriding. In this
process, a molten salt bath containing mixture of cyanides
and cyanates are used as sources of nitrogen. The three

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process parameters, such as bath temperature, treatment case hardening of stainless steels. This process is carried out
time, and the composition of the salt bath determine the at 1100 ± 50 °C in N2 gas atmosphere (Berns and Siebert,
nitriding results. The typical treatment temperature in this 1994). It uses the capability of stainless steel to dissolve in
technique is in the range of 550 to 580 °C. The main nitrogen at temperature above 1000 °C to a large extent
advantage of this process is short treatment times ~ 1 to 10 without forming chromium nitride. A region of ~2 mm hard
hours for nitrogen uptake (Lee et al., 2010). martensitic or a ductile austenitic phase with higher
2.6 Plasma Source Ion Implantation (PSII) nitrogen percentage is formed. This region contributes to
reduce wear by sliding, fretting, erosion, and cavitations.
In PSII, the ions are accelerated through a surface-
(Berns and Siebert, 1994; Siebert, 1994; Berns, 1994).
conformal sheath. Thus targets with larger area can be
easily treated. In PSII, the substrate is immersed in low- 3. Plasma Ion Nitriding Process and its Mechanism
-2 -4
pressure (10 -10 mbar) plasma with negatively biased The plasma nitriding is also known as Ion Nitriding and Glow
power supply pulsed between -20 and -250 kV. The ion Discharge Plasma Ion Nitriding (GDPIN). In plasma nitriding,
energy and dose was determined by surface bias and nitrogen-hydrogen plasma supplies ions, excited atoms
plasma conditions that may also be responsible to and molecules as well as radicals for nitrogen
increase the surface temperature. The pressure and incorporation into iron and its alloys (Pye, 2003; John, 2005;
plasma density in PSII is very low in comparison to the glow Lieberman and Lichtenberg, 2005; Williams and Poat,
discharge plasma nitriding. Since large negative bias is 1984; Moller and Mukherjee, 2002; Blawert, 2000). The
applied on the substrate, in initial phase ions remain typical voltage-current characteristic of a DC glow
stationary (for times less than ion plasma period defined as discharge mechanism is shown in Figure 2. During the
fpi = 2.1 x 102 zµni1/2 Hz), and electrons are repelled by the phenomenon of gas discharge, various regions are
bias voltage. During this phenomenon, an ion matrix formed; the two important regions, normal glow and
sheath is created around the substrate (Gupta, 2011). For abnormal glow are discussed below.
longer time scale, ions move towards the substrate and 3.1 Normal Glow Discharge
gain sufficiently high energy required for implantation.
In this region, electron energy and number density are high
Under the typical PSII conditions, nitriding can be done with
enough to produce just enough ions, and a steady state
pure nitrogen plasma and hydrogen is not essentially
condition is reached. In this condition, equilibrium is
required. PSII assures dose uniformity for the samples of
established between the rate of formation of ions and the
complex shapes. However, the penetration depths are
determined by the kinetic energy of the ions that is ~ 1 nm /
k eV for N+ on Fe. For higher depths, either the kinetic energy
has to be increased or the implanted ions have to diffuse
inside the substrate because of the surface temperature.
2.7 Shallow Implantation and Diffusion Hardening
Shallow Implantation and Diffusion Hardening (SIDH)
process incorporates diffusion of nitrogen in low pressure
nitrogen plasma. In SIDH, the substrate is negatively pulsed
biased of the ~ -1 kV to -20 kV. The repetition rate of the
pulse and pulse duration depends on the required
substrate for diffusion of implanted ions (Baldwin et al.,
1997; Mukherjee, 2002).
2.8 Solution Nitriding
Figure 2. Voltage-current Characteristics of Discharge
Solution nitriding is a controlled heat treatment process for (Lieberman and Lichtenberg, 2005)

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rate of their recombination. At this stage, the discharge is

self-sustaining and gas begins to glow. Such type of region
is called normal glow region, in which the voltage drops
and current rises abruptly and it is almost independent of
the voltage. The minimum threshold voltage required to
produce the glow discharge is called the breakdown
voltage Vb.
3.2 Abnormal Glow Discharge
At low power, the sustained glow discharge covers only the
area near the rim of the cathode. When power is raised, the
current increases and the discharge spread to cover the
whole surface of the cathode uniformly. Such type of
discharge is called abnormal glow discharge and it is very
much useful in the processing of materials. In the abnormal
glow discharge, current can be easily controlled. Thus, the
plasma nitriding is generally done in abnormal glow region
because the ideal conditions exist. Typically, the substrate is
biased negatively between 400 V to 800 V having current
density 1-5 mA/cm2 (Lieberman and Lichtenberg, 2005).
The typical existing plasma ion nitriding mechanism with
formation of iron-nitrogen compounds are described in
Figure 3.
3.3 Salient Features and Limitations of Plasma Nitriding
Plasma nitriding is a metallurgically versatile technique
which provides excellent dimensional control and surface
Figure 3. Glow Discharge Ion Nitriding Mechanism (Pye, 2003)
finish. Plasma nitriding can suppress the formation of white-
layer and if needed can form a monophase layer, which 4. Plasma Nitriding Experimental Set-up and Procedure to
may be either epsilon (ε) or gama prime (g
') in nature. In the Operate
plasma nitriding process, repetitive metallurgical results The schematic diagram of experimental set-up for plasma
can be produced and also the complete process can be ion nitriding is shown in Figure 4. The main components of
controlled to achieve desired nitrided layers. Moreover, the the experimental setup are, Vacuum Pumps, Gas
process control ensures high dimensional stability, Cylinders, Gas Mixing Chamber (GMC), Mass Flow
eliminates secondary operations, offers low operating- Controllers (MFC), Pulsed DC Power Supply, Thermocouple,
temperature capability, and produces parts that retain and necessary arrangement of auxiliary heaters.
surface finish. Apart from the operational control, it has also
Initially, the chamber is evacuated upto the base pressure
the following technical and social benefits, such as
of ~5x10-3 mbar with the help of a rotary and a root pump.
environmental friendly, selective nitriding by simple
After that, Argon and Hydrogen gases are introduced into
masking techniques, reduced nitriding time, minimal gas
the chamber in a pressure ratio of 1:4 to maintain a gas
consumption and ability to treat almost any steel, etc.
pressure of 1 mbar. The gas pressure is measured by a
Every process has its own limitations. The limitations of
Baratron gauge. At this gas pressure, initially a glow
plasma nitriding include high capital cost and requirement
discharge plasma is ignited between chamber wall as
of precision power supply.
anode and substrate table as cathode by applying pulsed

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Figure 4. Plasma Nitriding Experimental Setup (Kumar et al., 2016)
DC voltage of ~400 Volts at ~30 kHz frequency. This Ar-H2
discharge is utilized to remove the contaminants from the
sample surface as a cleaning process. After an hour, N2-H2
gases are introduced into the chamber in a pressure ratio
of 80:20 through Mass Flow Controllers (MFC) and Gas
Mixing Chamber (GMC). A typical working pressure of ~1 to
10 mbar is maintained for carrying out the plasma nitriding
process. A thermocouple is used to measure the sample
temperature. The plasma nitriding operating parameters
are controlled and monitored by a PLC controlled computer.
5. Results and Discussion
In the plasma nitriding process, various process parameters
36 i-manager’s Journal on Material Science, Vol. 6 l
are involved. These process parameters can affect utility of
the PIN process. Many researchers have worked and
explored the effect of various process parameters. Some of
these are reviewed under various sections.
5.1 Role of Hydrogen (H2)
In PIN process, nitrogen and hydrogen gases are used.
Nitrogen gas is responsible to form nitride, but the role of
hydrogen in the nitriding process is not clearly understood.
Many research papers show that it enhances the discharge
current and increases the diffusion rate of nitrogen and
behaves as a catalyst (Pye, 2003). Bougdira et al. (1991)
studied the effect of hydrogen in a pulsed plasma nitriding.
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They found that the presence of a small amount of H2 in the
gaseous atmosphere (less than 10%), increases the
excitation of iron atoms and of nitrogen molecules.
Moskalioviene and Galdikas, (2015) have proposed a
numerical model, to analyze and describe the effect of
hydrogen on plasma nitriding of austenitic stainless steel.
According to this model, when hydrogen was added in the
range ~(30 to 40) pct, nitrogen penetration in steel was
increased. It also reduces the surface oxide and increases
the NH radicals, which are converted into active nitrogen
atoms on the steel surface, i.e., the amount of adsorbed
and diffused nitrogen increases as compared to pure
nitrogen plasma. Borges et al. (2000) studied the effect of
hydrogen on SS 304 during plasma nitriding. They observed
that a high concentration of hydrogen decreases the
chromium concentration on the surface of steel. Sharma
et al. (2006) studied the effect of hydrogen during pulsed
DC plasma of AISI 302/304 austenitic stainless steels. They
reported that in pure nitrogen plasma, surface hardness
did not increase from the initial value. In N2–H2 gas plasma,
surface hardness increases ~3-4 after plasma nitriding.
Kumar et al. (2011) studied the effect of gas (N2–H2)
compositions on plasma nitriding of AISI 52100 ball bearing
steel. They reported that surface hardness has increased to
∼ 585 HV from its initial value (262 HV) when samples were
plasma-nitrided with 95% nitrogen and 5% hydrogen gas
as compared to plasma-nitriding with 65% nitrogen - 35%
hydrogen and 25% nitrogen - 75% hydrogen gas. On the
basis of these different observations of the authors, it can
be concluded that hydrogen plays an important role in the
plasma nitriding process. In the presence of hydrogen gas,
diffusion process of nitrogen in steel matrix increases due to
increase in surface current density that increases the
presence of active nitrogen on steel surface for diffusion.
5.2 Optical Emission Spectroscopic (OES) Study
Petitjean and Ricard (1984) made an Emission
spectroscopy study of N2-H2 glow discharge plasma. In this
2 + +
study, N , N2 , N, N , H, NH, and metal atom excited states
have been detected. In another spectroscopic study,
Guillermet and Hong (1994) show that N2+, N+, NH, Ha
, and
species exist in the nitriding process, but nitrogen ions (N+)
Hb
were the most dominant species. Nitrogen to hydrogen
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gas ratio depending on the requirement of surface
metallurgy, fixed gas chemistry gives the fixed surface
metallurgy and variable gas chemistry allows a variable
surface metallurgy (Pye, 2003). Spencer (1992) studied the
surface metallurgy of the plasma nitrided component and
it depends on the process parameters like: partial pressure
in the chamber, applied voltage, surface current density,
surface temperature, and process time duration. A
detailed study after plasma nitriding of AISI 5140 steel with
various gas mixtures has been reported by Vandervell and
Waugh, (1990) and Pulkkinen and Lähdeniemi (1983).
Effect of the gas pressure on the excited species during
plasma nitriding process and on the microstructural
changes observed were studied by Jeong and Kim (2001).
In this study, it was observed that the emission intensity of N2+
and N2 increases with increasing gas pressure even if the
current density was kept constant. The intensity ratio of
these species was also increased with increasing gas
pressure. This study leads to an important conclusion that
N2+ was a more decisive active species than N2 and has an
effect on the formation of the nitride layer. The behavior of
nitrided layer was studied on high speed steel at different
gas pressures. It is found that the thickness of the
compound layer and diffusion zone increases with
increasing gas pressure. An explanation of this behavior
was given by Takahashi (1993). According to Takahashi
(1993), the mean free path of plasma species becomes
shorter when gas pressure was increased, due to this fact
kinetic energy of charged particles were reduced. This may
result in a decrease of ion energy and ion bombardment
population by discharged ion and molecular particles.
Therefore, deposition effects may be dominant compared
to sputtering. A detailed study of the effect of various gas
mixtures on AISI 5140 steel was reported by Karakan et al.
(2002). In this study it was found that the surface hardness
and diffusion depth are maximum for the gas ratio of 10%
N2 and 90% H2.
5.3 Effect of Duty Cycle
Díaz-Guillén et al. (2009) studied the effect of duty cycle on
the surface properties, such as surface hardness, diffusion
depth, compounds’ zone width, and crystalline phase
composition for AISI 4340 steel. In this study it has been
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found that the treated samples show better result when
duty cycle was kept ~50% - 70%. Alphonsa et al. (2008)
studied the effect of frequency of the applied pulse DC
source on the micro-structure and corrosion resistance of
AISI 4340 steel at 10 kHz and 30 kHz. In this study, it was found
that plasma nitriding with 30 kHz frequency gives better
corrosion resistance and higher surface hardness than 10
kHz on AISI 4340 steel. Taherkhani and Mahboubi (2013)
studied the combined effect of source frequency and duty
cycle on surface properties of AISI H13 steel. They observed
that with increasing frequency and duty cycle, thickness of
the compound zone, surface roughness, and surface
hardness were increased. Varman and Huchel (2017)
studied the effect of pulse repetition time on surface
properties of plasma nitrided AISI 4340 Steel. They reported
that strong iron nitrides of gamma and epsilon were
observed at reduced pulse repetition and disappeared
gradually when pulse repetition time was increased. The
compound layer thickness was found maximum when
pulse repetition time is zero (PR-0). On the other hand, wear
resistance was higher for the samples of PR- 300 due to the
presence of Chromium Nitrides. Naeem et al. (2017)
studied the effect of duty cycle on tribological and
corrosion properties of AISI 316 stainless steel. The results of
this study show that hardness was increased at low duty
cycle. The wear rate was found to be reduced up to 90%
and corrosion rate was found to be reduced up to 95%
when material was processed at low pulsed duty cycle
(15%) in cathodic cage plasma nitriding. On the basis of
above literature review, except the observations of Naeem
et al. (2017), higher duty cycle was helpful to increase the
surface hardness, thickness of compound zone, and wear
resistance properties of nitrided material.
5.4 Role of Treatment Time and Temperature in Plasma
Nitriding
Mendes et al. (2014) studied the effect of plasma nitriding
treatment time and temperature on kinetic layer growth on
stainless steel and nickel steel. The results of this study reveal
that the nitrided layer thickness increases for higher
treatment temperatures. At lower nitriding temperature
(350 oC – 380 oC), expanded austenite phase were formed.
At this temperature range, chromium-nitride (CrN) peak
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was not detected, but at higher nitriding temperature, CrN
peak was detected under XRD investigation. Formation of
chromium nitride in stainless steel looses its corrosion
resistance properties. Surface hardness was found to
increase with increasing process temperature. On the other
hand, surface hardness was found to increase with
increasing process time, but for longer process time, it will
be decreased. Sirin et al. (2008) studied the effect of the ion
nitriding on AISI 4340 steel. In this paper, they reported that
surface hardness and case depth of AISI 4340 steel was
increased by increasing plasma nitriding time and
temperature. It is also found that the maximum hardness
and the maximum case depth do not coincide. At higher
treatment time surface hardness decreases while the case
depth was found to increase continuously. Wang et al.
(2006) studied the effect of plasma nitriding time on AISI
304 austenitic stainless steel. They reported that thickness of
the nitrided layer and surface micro-hardness were
increased with nitriding time. The value of micro-hardness
was not increased for increasing the nitriding times more
than 7 h at constant temperature. X-ray diffraction study
reveals that the expanded austenite (g
N) phase were
present in the nitrided layer when samples were treated at
420 oC. Ogale et al. (1987) and D'Anna et al. (1992) studied
the plasma nitriding process to increase the mechanical
properties like: surface hardness, wear resistance and
fatigue strength of steel components. Barnikel et al. (1997)
studied that plasma nitriding process also increases the
chemical property like corrosion resistance, except
stainless steel. The thermal fatigue behavior, wear behavior,
and hardness depth profile study have been thoroughly
reported by many researchers (D'Anna et al., 1992; Barnikel
et al., 1997; Han, 2001). The microstructure study, phase
study, and residual stress measurement study of many steel
samples after plasma nitriding have been made by
Conard (1987), Tendys et al. (1988), and Conard et al.
(1987). Mechanical properties of nitrided steel were
influenced by processing parameters (Berns, 1994; Ogale et
al., 1987). On the basis of literature review, it was observed
that the mechanical properties were increased after plasma
nitriding. Some properties such as case depth and surface
hardness shows reverse trend at higher treatment time.
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5.5 Role of Alloying Elements in Plasma Nitriding
Many researchers (Egawa et al., 2010; Gouné et al., 2000)
studied the role of alloying elements for improving the
surface properties after plasma nitriding process. Egawa et
al. (2010) suggested that the presence of strong nitride
forming elements enhances the nitrogen diffusion depth in
austenitic stainless steels. Gouné et al.’s (2000)
observations support the role of Cr for increasing the
diffusion of nitrogen in the bulk of the material. Additionally,
Wang et al. (2006) explored, in detail with the help of
computational model, the presence of Cr% to limit the
diffusion depth in plasma nitriding. This study importantly
reveals that the diffusion depth of nitrogen increases with
increase in Cr% till 1% while it decreases with more Cr%.
Hossain et al. (n.d) explored the role of unstable nitride
forming element Nickel (Ni). The surface micro-hardness of
Ni containing low carbon, Cr steels reduces after plasma
nitriding process. Ni containing steels have more retained
austenite that reduces the surface micro-hardness. During
the nitriding of Ni containing austenitic steels, coarsening of
nitride segregation in the nitrided layer may be another
reason for reducing the surface micro-hardness. Kumar et
al. (2016) studied the role of alloying elements on surface
properties of various alloys. This study reveals that variation
of micro-hardness (H) in diffusion depth (X) follows a power
X-2. It was observed that alloying elements and their
law Ha
concentrations available in the steel sample play a
significant role. They conclude that if the steel has strong
nitride forming elements (Cr, Al, Mo, etc.) under low
concentration (~ 1-2%), the diffusion depth and hardness
will be more.
5.6 Plasma Nitriding of Non-ferrous Alloys
Apart from the detailed study on various ferrous alloys, non-
ferrous alloys were also investigated. Borowski et al. (2009)
studied the modifying properties of Inconel 625 Nickel alloy.
It was concluded that the diffusion-type chromium nitride
layer produced on the alloy surface improves the
hardness, frictional wear resistance, fatigue strength, and
corrosion resistance of the alloy. Dahm et al. (2007)
characterized the plasma immersion ion implantation (PI3)
of a commercial Ni-base alloy (Inconel 601). All of the
nitrided samples showed superior corrosion resistance to
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April - June 2018
the untreated alloy in 3.56 wt.% NaCl. Leroy et al. (2001)
studied the Inconel 690 alloy. It was found that low
temperature plasma nitriding improves the tribological
properties without changing the corrosion resistance. The
plasma nitrided samples have two or three distinct layers
that depends on the plasma reactivity. These layers were
related to the three different metastable f.c.c. nitrogen
solid solutions. Mindivan and Mindivan (2013) studied the
wear performance of hardened Inconel 600 by different
nitriding processes. It was concluded that wear rate was
lower for the pulsed plasma nitrided samples, but the
nitriding processes did not significantly affect the surface
hardness of such alloy. Sudha et al. (2013) studied the
nitriding kinetics of inconel 600 alloy. In this study, it was
found that surface hardness increased from 200 to 1260
VHN (at 600 °C for 24 h). Growth kinetics was followed by a
parabolic rate equation and was controlled by the diffusion
of nitrogen. The calculated value of activation energy for
diffusion was obtained as 0.65 eV, which is close to the
apparent activation energy for diffusion of nitrogen in a Ni
matrix. Kahraman and Karadeniz (2011) studied the wear
behavior of plasma nitrided nickel based dental alloy. It
was concluded that different nitrided layers were formed
during nitriding process. It was also concluded that the
nitrided layer increases only until the critical time and
temperature (450 oC) were reached. Above these critical
values, it was observed that the layer thickness decreased.
The maximum wear resistance was observed at 400 oC for
10 h due to the high hardness and thickness of the nitrided
layers.
Conclusions
On the basis of this critical review, the following conclusions
have been drawn.
·Hydrogen plays an important role in the plasma
nitriding process. It enhances the discharge current and
increases the diffusion rate of nitrogen and behaves as a
catalyst. It also reduces the surface oxide and increases
the NH radicals, which are converted into active nitrogen
atoms on the steel surface, i.e., the amount of adsorbed
and diffused nitrogen increases as compared to pure
nitrogen plasma. In the presence of hydrogen gas,
diffusion process of nitrogen in steel matrix increases due to
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increase in surface current density, due to this fact the
presence of active nitrogen increases on steel surface for
diffusion. It may also be concluded that less percentage of
hydrogen gives higher surface with lower case depth and
more percentage of hydrogen gives reverse effect in some
cases. In another study it has been found that the surface
hardness and case depth are maximum for the gas ratio of
10% N2 and 90% H2 (Karakan et al., 2002).
+ +
·Spectroscopic study reveals that, N2 , N , NH, Hα, and Hβ
species exist in the plasma nitriding process, but nitrogen
+
ions (N ) were the most dominant species (Guillermet and
Hong, 1994). In another study, they concluded that the N2+
was a more decisive active species than N2 and has an
effect on the formation of the nitride layer (Jeong and Kim,
2001). In this study, it has been also observed that the
emission intensity of N2+ and N2 increase with increasing gas
pressure even if the current density remains constant. It was
found that the thickness of the compound layer and
diffusion zone increase with increasing gas pressure.
According to Takahashi (1993), the mean free path of
plasma species becomes shorter when gas pressure
increases, due to this fact kinetic energy of charged
particles were reduced. This may result in a decrease of ion
energy and ion bombardment population by discharged
ion and molecular particles. Therefore, deposition effects
may be dominant compared to sputtering.
·It is concluded that higher duty cycle is helpful to
increase the surface hardness, thickness of compound
zone, and wear resistance properties of plasma nitrided
materials except the observations of Naeem et al. (2017). It
has been found that the treated samples show better result
when duty cycle was kept between ~50% - 70%. Varman
and Huchel (2017) concluded that the strong iron nitrides of
gamma and epsilon were observed at reduced pulse
repetition and disappears gradually when pulse repetition
time is increased. The compound layer thickness was
maximum when pulse repetition time is zero (PR-0).
·Mechanical properties of the material increased after
plasma nitriding process. Initially, case depth and surface
hardness are increased with increasing process time, but
for longer process time, case depth and surface hardness
shows reverse trend at higher treatment time. At lower
40 i-manager’s Journal on Material Science, Vol. 6 l
o o
nitriding temperature (350 C – 380 C), expanded
austenite phase were formed. At this temperature range,
chromium-nitride (CrN) peak was not detected, but at
higher nitriding temperature, CrN peak was detected
under XRD investigation. Formation of chromium nitride in
stainless steel looses its corrosion resistance properties.
·Alloying elements play a significant role during plasma
nitriding process. If the steel has strong nitride forming
elements, that steel shows more surface hardness. For
larger case depth, strong nitride forming elements are not
too much helpful. Kumar et al. (2016) reveal that the
variation of micro-hardness (H) in diffusion depth (X) follows
X-2. It also concludes that if the steel has
a power law H a
strong nitride forming elements (Cr, Al, Mo, etc.) under low
concentration (~1-2%), the diffusion depth and hardness
will be more.
·Non-ferrous alloys can also be plasma nitrided in the
same manner to increase mechanical and chemical
properties of the material. It may also be concluded that
non-ferrous alloys show lower case depth after plasma
nitriding as compared to ferrous alloys. The plasma nitrided
samples have two or three distinct layers that depends on
the plasma reactivity. These layers were related to the three
different metastable f.c.c. nitrogen solid solutions. It was
also concluded that the nitrided layer increase only until
the critical time and temperature (450 oC) was reached.
Above these critical values, it was observed that the layer
thickness decreases.
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ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Ravindra Kumar is an Associate Lecturer in the Department of Physics at Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Jaipur Campus,
Rajasthan, India. He received his M.Tech. Degree in the field of New Materials and Processing Technology from the Birla Institute
of Technology (BIT), Mesra Ranchi, India. He has attended and published many research papers in the reputed International
Journals, National Journals, and Conferences. His research interests, include Material Science, Thin Films, and Surface
Modification Process.

Dr. Dheeraj Bhardwaj is currently working as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics at Birla Institute of Technology,
Mesra, Jaipur Campus, Rajasthan, India. He received Ph.D. Degree in the field of Microstrip Antenna from the University of
Rajasthan, Jaipur. He has published more than fifty five research papers in the reputed International Journals, National Journals,
and Conferences. He has guided more than twenty five final year student research projects of BE, M.Tech., and M.Sc. His
research interests, include Dielectric Materials used in Microstrip Antenna for Space Communication.

Dr. Yogesh Chandra Sharma is Dean, Research & Development and Professor in the Department of Physics at Vivekananda
Global University, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India. He received his Doctorate from University of Rajasthan, Jaipur, India. Dr. Sharma has
supervised five students for their Ph.D. thesis and seven students are working under his supervision for their doctoral thesis. He has
published research papers in International and National Journals in various fields and attended many International and
National Conferences. His research interests, include Material Science, Thin Films, Thermoelectric Materials, and Energy
Optimisation.

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