Submitted:
11 July 2024
Posted:
12 July 2024
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Abstract
Keywords:
1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
3. Results and Discussion
3.1. Characterization of the Nitrided Layer
3.2. Micro-Hardness Measurement
3.2. Potentiodynamic Polarization (PP)
3.3. Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS)
4. Conclusions
- Plasma nitriding of AISI 304 stainless steel performed at the temperature of 530 °C for 24 hours induced the formation of a nitrided surface layer (thickness approx. 45 µm) with rough discontinuous surface and with an uneven distribution of nitrogen and chromium.
- XPS analysis of the surface nitride layer proved the presence of bonds between chromium and nitrogen. Predominant contribution to the N1s line corresponds to chromium nitrides, sputtered surface peak at 396.83 eV can be assigned to Cr2N phase. This phase was also confirmed by the Cr2p3/2 peak appeared at a binding energy of 574.73 eV.
- The plasma nitriding process significantly increased the micro-hardness of the surface layer compared to the inner parts of the material (1143 to 1572 HV 0.01 in the nitride layer, 223 to 286 HV 0.01 in the inner part).
- Potentiodynamic polarization revealed the loss of the passive behavior of the material after plasma nitriding in both solutions—the shape of PP curves and the icorr values obtained by Tafel analysis (Table 2) are typical for an actively corroding metal.
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
References
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| Specimen designation | Type of surface / solution |
|---|---|
| AR 0.05 | As received, non-treated/ 0.05 M NaCl |
| AR 0.5 | As received, non-treated/ 0.5 M NaCl |
| PN 0.05 | Plasma nitrided/ 0.05 M NaCl |
| PN 0.5 | Plasma nitrided/ 0.5 M NaCl |
| Specimen designation | Corrosion Potential Ecorr (V vs SCE) |
Pitting potential Ep (V vs SCE) |
Corrosion current density icorr (10-3 mA/cm2) | Corrosion rate vcorr (mm/year) |
| AR 0.05 | -0.16 ± 0.02 | 0.39 ± 0.04 | - | - |
| AR 0.5 | -0.18 ± 0.03 | 0.29 ± 0.05 | - | - |
| PN 0.05 | -0.30 ± 0.03 | - | 3.19 ± 0.19 | 0.04 ± 0.002 |
| PN 0.5 | -0.48 ± 0.05 | - | 6.81 ± 0.21 | 0.08 ± 0.002 |
| Specimen designation | RΩ (kΩ.cm2) | Rct (kΩ.cm2) | n | CPE (µF/cm2) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AR 0.05 | 0.161 ± 0.004 | 236.68 ± 0.9 | 0.85 ± 0.003 | 24.64 ± 0.12 |
| AR 0.5 | 0.019 ± 0.002 | 40.68 ± 0.2 | 0.85 ± 0.002 | 33,5 ± 0.18 |
| Specimen designation | RΩ (kΩ.cm2) |
Rct1 (kΩ.cm2) | Rct2 (kΩ.cm2) | CPE1 (µF/cm2) | CPE2 (µF/cm2) | n1 | n2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PN 0.05 | 0.122 ± 0.003 | 2,11 ± 0.1 | 3.37 ± 0.2 | 247 ± 1.2 | 14.82 ± 0.8 | 0,87 ± 0.002 | 0.50 ± 0.002 |
| PN 0.5 | 0.018 ± 0.002 | 1.95 ± 0.1 | 1.76 ± 0.2 | 376 ± 1.4 | 6.11 ± 0.2 | 0.82 ± 0.002 |
0.75 ± 0.002 |
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