CHARACTERIZATION OF NITROCARBURIZED COATING BY PLASMA ELECTROLYTIC SATURATION

Plasma electrolytic saturation (PES) is an atmospheric pressure plasma deposition which is used for fabrication of nanostructural coatings. This process starts with the appearance of some sparks on the surface and finally by the formation of plasma envelope around the sample, particles and free radicals bombard the surface and diffusion takes place into the work-piece. In this paper, the effect of frequency (500, 1000 and 10000 Hz) as pulse parameters on properties of nitrocarburized layers deposited on AISI 1045 steel were investigated. The analytical characteristics of the coating were assessed using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) techniques. The corrosion behavior of coatings was analyzed by potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) in 3.5% sodium chloride solution. Moreover, the microhardness and wear resistance of coated samples were also studied. The results indicated that applying nitrocarburized layer in all cases, improved the corrosion resistance, microhardness and also wear resistance of the substrate. The coatings treated at the frequency of 10000 Hz, had corrosion resistance about 2.4 and 1.4 times higher than those of the samples prepared at the frequency of 500 Hz and 1000 Hz. The surface hardness of 10000 Hz treated sample was about 1040 Vickers, which was more than those of the two other ones. An increase in frequency also caused wear resistance to increase.