Influence of microstructure on nitriding properties of stainless steel

Very hard and wear-resistant layers are formed after energetic nitrogen insertion into stainless steel. Here, a systematic investigation of the influence of the microstructure is presented. Nitrogen implantation was performed in austenitic, martensitic, and ferritic steels with the samples investigated with respect to formation of expanded phase, nitrogen depth distribution, hardness, and wear. Microstructure strongly affects the diffusion in austenite and has negligible effect in the case of martensitic/ferritic transformations.