Plasma immersion ion implantation: innovative technology for surface treatment of stainless steels: Third Prize

Abstract

Plasma immersion ion implantation technology was used to produce expanded austenite and to study the influence of treatment conditions and starting material on its formation and structure. Standard materials characterisation techniques, XRD, TEM, conversion electron Mössbauer spectroscopy, and Rutherford back scatter spectrometry analysis were used to determine the structure of the layers, thereby revealing the complex structure of expanded austenite. The properties of the expanded austenite layers (hardness, wear, and corrosion) were determined and correlated with the structure. Most work was concentrated on the austenitic stainless steel X6CrNiTi1810 after treatments at 300 and 400°C. Based on these results, the possibilities of influencing properties by varying the process conditions are discussed.