LOW-TEMPERATURE NITRIDING BEHAVIOR OF COMPRESSIVE DEFORMED AISI 316Ti AUSTENITIC STAINLESS STEELS

The effects of compressive cold deformation under the quasi-static loads on the nitride formation, nitride layer growth and surface hardness properties were researched in this study. Martensite structure did not form in AISI 316Ti stainless steel as a result of quasi-static deformation. Diffusion layer did not form in all nitrided samples. Both the deformed and undeformed samples have only compound layer on the surfaces at the low-temperature nitriding conditions (400 degrees C, 7h). According to the X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and electron probe microanalysis (EPMA) results, S-phase and chromium nitride (CrN) were formed in the compound layers of the deformed samples. However, CrN did not form in the compound layer of the undeformed sample. The optical microscope (OM) results showed that the compressive cold deformation increased the nitrogen diffusion rate and led to thicker nitrided layer than the undeformed sample under the same plasma-nitriding conditions. All nitrided layers presented higher microhardness values ( similar to 1200 HV) when compared with the untreated sample hardness. It was also verified that the deformation amount did not affect significantly the nitrided layer hardness.