Assessment of Properties on 316LN Austenitic Stainless Steel Material by Plasma and Salt Bath Nitriding Processes

Austenitic stainless steel is widely used for its resistance to corrosion but certain industrial applications require improved wear characteristics. Of various surface hardening techniques, nitriding as a low temperature treatment gives a good dimensional stability. Stainless steel has a good corrosion resistance, where they possess a low hardness, wear resistance. By case hardening the stainless steel, the hardness can be increased. Surface hardness can be increased by diffusion of carbon or nascent nitrogen. The salt bath nitriding is done at 450-5400°C for four different specimens and plasma nitriding is done at 500-5400°C for two different specimens. Nitriding is done in which hard complex nitrides are formed which improves the surface hardness. Non treated austenitic stainless steel specimen was used as a reference material. Wear test were also carried out for comparision. The layers were characterized by optical microscope, scanning electron microscope. Wear test were conducted to characterize the tribological wear behaviour.