Corrosion wear behaviour of low temperature plasma alloyed 316 austenitic stainless steel

Low temperature plasma surface alloying with nitrogen (nitriding) and carbon (carburising) has been conducted to enhance the wear and corrosion resistance of AISI 316 austenitic stainless steel. In addition to detailed general characterisation of the microstructure and carbon and nitrogen depth profiles, a series of wear corrosion tests it ere carried out, employing a recently dei,eloped electrochemical scratching technique, to study, the simultaneous effects of corrosion and wear. Results show that both plasma nitriding and carburising can improve the corrosion wear resistance of AISI 316 austenitic stainless steel but that the nitrided layer out performs the carburised layer.