STUDY OF THE EFFECT OF GAS FLOW VARIATION ON THE WEAR RESISTANCE OF

PLASMA NITRIDED ASTM F138 STAINLESS STEEL

1. Introduction
The parameters determined to carry out the plasma nitriding treatment, such as time, temperature,
proportion, and gas flow, can influence the characteristics of the layer formed [1]. In particular, the gas flow
influences the type of nitride formed without significantly changing the thickness of the layer formed [2]. This
work aimed to study the wear resistance of ASTM F138 stainless steel subjected to plasma nitriding at different
gas flows.

2. Methods
ASTM F138 stainless steel was subjected to plasma nitriding treatment, maintaining the fixed parameters
of 80% N2 and 20% H2 for 6 hours at 415°C, varying the gas flow by 500 sccm (4,1 torr), 750 sccm (5,7 torr),
1000 sccm (5,9 torr), and 1200 sccm (6,4 torr). After treatment, the samples were subjected to metallographic
analysis, Vickers microhardness testing, and micro-abrasive wear testing by fixed ball.

3. Results and Discussions

Regardless of the treatment conditions, plasma nitriding considerably increased the hardness and wear
resistance of ASTM F138 stainless steel. must be considered that the hardness of the substrate is 204.4 HV. The
variation in treatment flow influenced the uniformity, thickness, and hardness of the layers formed (Fig.1), the
result of which is different from that obtained by Sholtz et al. (2018) [2], who state that layer thickness is mainly
influenced by treatment time and temperature. As a result, the influence of the gas flow on the wear resistance of
the treated material was observed (Fig. 2). It can be seen that the 750 and 1200 sccm treatments had greater wear
resistance at longer test times, and the 500 and 1000 sccm treatments had greater wear resistance in the 5-minute
tests. The treatments with greater thickness and hardness showed an increase in wear volume after 5 minutes,
while the treatments with lower thickness and hardness showed stability in wear volume even as the test time
increased. It can be concluded that the treatment pressure, defined by the gas flow, has an influence on the surface
properties of the steel studied.

Figure 1- Microhardness and thickness as a Figure 2- Wear volume with and without treatment
function of treatment gas flow

4. References
[1] Danelon, M. R ,Revista Brasileira de Aplicações de Vácuo, (2020). 39(2).
[2] J. S. Scholtz et al. Metal. Mater. Min., 15 (2018) 110- 114

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