AVS 60th International Symposium and Exhibition
    Tribology Focus Topic Tuesday Sessions
       Session TR-TuP

Paper TR-TuP9
Effect of Plasma Nitriding Treatment Time on the Tribology of Tool Steels

Tuesday, October 29, 2013, 6:00 pm, Room Hall B

Session: Tribology Poster Session
Presenter: P. Abraha, Meijo University, Japan
Authors: P. Abraha, Meijo University, Japan
J. Miyamoto, Toba National College of Maritime Technology, Japan
Correspondent: Click to Email
The effect of the plasma treatment time on the formation of the hard but brittle compound layer and the subsequent change on the tribological properties of the tool steel surface were investigated. The nitriding of tool steel was performed in electron beam excited plasma using neutral and charged nitrogen species. The tribological experiments were carried out at room temperature using a pin on disc tribometer. The results show that the tool steel nitrided by neutral nitrogen species for six hours produced , based nitrided layer up to 40 μm, without altering the pretreatment surface finish, Ra=14nm. The specific wear rate was less than one hundredth, 4.3×10-7mm3/Nm that of the untreated sample. On the other hand, the samples produced by the charged nitrogen species, ions, produced rough and brittle compound layer on the surface. Consequently, the friction coefficient of the former showed slightly lower friction coefficient compared to that of the latter. The results demonstrate that neutral species based nitriding is effective for high performance precision mechanical components that require better friction and wear performance while keeping the as finished pre-treatment dimensional accuracy, surface roughness and appearance of the sample.