Producing a gradient-composition nanocrystalline structure on nitrided surfaces of invar-type Fe-Ni alloys using megaplastic deformation

A nanocrystalline Fe-Ni matrix strengthened by dispersed CrN and TiN nitrides has been produced on the ion-plasma-nitrided surfaces of the austenitic Fe-Ni38-Cr15 and Fe-Ni36-Ti4 alloys using cyclic “nitride dissolution-nitride precipitation” phase transformations induced by megaplastic deformation. The high-pressure torsion of the nitrided alloys has led to the dissolution of the CrN nitrides and Ni3Ti intermetallic compounds, which appeared in the matrix, in the surface layer and to the mechanical alloying of the nitrided subsurface layer and the unnitriderd bulk of the specimens. Subsequent annealing has resulted in the formation of secondary nitrides, which propagated to a depth substantially exceeding the thickness of the original nitrided layer.