Plasma nitriding is an effective treatment to increase the surface hardness of stainless steel and may be performed in temperatures below those used in conventional nitriding procedures, thereby avoiding the formation of chromium nitrides that would deteriorate the corrosion resistance of the material. The precipitation hardened stainless steels were developed after the Second World War as a result of the needs of the aerospace industry, which needed materials resistant to corrosion at higher temperatures. In this research, a precipitation hardening Nb stainless steel and a PH 13-8Mo precipitation hardened stainless steels with Cu were produced, for purposes of comparison in terms of the production of nitrided layers and abrasive wear resistances. Nb proved to be an effective hardening precipitate former, with the hardness peak occurring within minutes of treatment. In both steels, nitrided layers with good uniformity were obtained. The wear resistance of the nitrided Nb steel was much higher than that presented by the PH 13-8Mo nitrided steel.
Plasma nitriding; stainless steel; precipitation hardening; wear
