Hardness and consequently wear resistance of austenitic stainless steel can be highly increased, without losing corrosion resistance, by plasma nitrocarburizing surface treatment. In this re-search, an AISI 316L stainless steel was plasma nitrocarburized at 450°C, and the obtained layers were characterized by optical microscopy, microhardness and micro-wear tests. It was verified that the layer is composed of chromium nitrides precipitates and beneath them, a nitrogen rich expanded austenite, with hardness around 850HV. The total average thickness of the layer was about 40µm and presented good uniformity. The wear resistance of the layer was much higher than that of the substrate.
Plasma; nitrocarburizing; stainless steel; AISI 316L
