Effects of Different Nitriding Methods on Nitrided Layer Structure and Morphology

The paper presents a comparison of the nitrided layer structure and morphology formed with a conventional controlled gas method, widely use in industrial applications and a layer formed with cathode plasma nitriding (CPN) and active screen plasma nitriding (ASPN). Nitriding processes were realized at 793K for different times and altering parameters, depending on the nitriding process technique. Research have been realized on the Fe Armco material using light microscopy (LM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM, SEM/EBSD), X-ray diffraction (XRD-GID) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Analysis of the results has confirmed that the structure of the nitrided layer depends mainly on process methodology. In addition Authors has also analyzed kinetics of the process which varies and depends mainly from the surface layer saturation mechanism and nitriding parameters. Acquired knowledge on the structural components of the nitrided layer made it possible to optimize the nitriding parameters in order to reduce or even eliminate the usually unfavorable, brittle compounds and porous zones and of the nitrided layer in the aspect of exploitation properties improvement of the metallic materials.