Low temperature plasma carburising of austenitic stainless steels for improved wear and corrosion resistance

摘要

A novel plasma surface engineering process hasbeen developed for engineering the surfaces of austenitic stainlesssteels to achieve combined improvements in wear and corrosionresistance. The process employs carbon as the major alloyingspecies in the glow discharge of a plasma, facilitating thediffusion of carbon into the surfaces of various austenitic stainlesssteels and forming a pRECipitate free layer supersaturated withcarbon at relatively low temperatures. This low temperatureplasma surface alloying process produces a surface engineeredlayer several tens of micrometres thick, which has a high hardnesstogether with excellent wear and corrosion resistance. The presentpaper describes various aspects of the novel process, concerningprocessing, structures, properties, and applications to engineering components.