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Volume 11
Issue 2
10.3390/coatings11020112
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Article

A Novel Decarburizing-Nitriding Treatment of Carburized/through-Hardened Bearing Steel towards Enhanced Nitriding Kinetics and Microstructure Refinement

by
Fuyao Yan
1,
Jiawei Yao
1,
Baofeng Chen
1,
Ying Yang
1,
Yueming Xu
2,
Mufu Yan
1,* and
Yanxiang Zhang
1,*
1
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China
2
Beijing Research Institute of Mechanical & Electrical Technology, Beijing 100083, China
*
Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Coatings 2021, 11(2), 112; https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings11020112
Submission received: 1 December 2020 / Revised: 7 January 2021 / Accepted: 13 January 2021 / Published: 20 January 2021
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Surface Engineering of C/N/O Functionalized Materials)
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Abstract

Decarburization is generally avoided as it is reckoned to be a process detrimental to material surface properties. Based on the idea of duplex surface engineering, i.e., nitriding the case-hardened or through-hardened bearing steels for enhanced surface performance, this work deliberately applied decarburization prior to plasma nitriding to cancel the softening effect of decarburizing with nitriding and at the same time to significantly promote the nitriding kinetics. To manifest the applicability of this innovative duplex process, low-carbon M50NiL and high-carbon M50 bearing steels were adopted in this work. The influence of decarburization on microstructures and growth kinetics of the nitrided layer over the decarburized layer is investigated. The metallographic analysis of the nitrided layer thickness indicates that high carbon content can hinder the growth of the nitrided layer, but if a short decarburization is applied prior to nitriding, the thickness of the nitrided layer can be significantly promoted. The analysis of nitriding kinetics shows that decarburization reduces the activation energy for nitrogen diffusion and enhances nitrogen diffusivity. Moreover, the effect of decarburization in air can promote surface microstructure refinement via spinodal decomposition during plasma nitriding.
Keywords: duplex surface engineering; decarburization; carburization; plasma nitriding; nitriding kinetics duplex surface engineering; decarburization; carburization; plasma nitriding; nitriding kinetics
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MDPI and ACS Style

Yan, F.; Yao, J.; Chen, B.; Yang, Y.; Xu, Y.; Yan, M.; Zhang, Y. A Novel Decarburizing-Nitriding Treatment of Carburized/through-Hardened Bearing Steel towards Enhanced Nitriding Kinetics and Microstructure Refinement. Coatings 2021, 11, 112. https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings11020112

AMA Style

Yan F, Yao J, Chen B, Yang Y, Xu Y, Yan M, Zhang Y. A Novel Decarburizing-Nitriding Treatment of Carburized/through-Hardened Bearing Steel towards Enhanced Nitriding Kinetics and Microstructure Refinement. Coatings. 2021; 11(2):112. https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings11020112

Chicago/Turabian Style

Yan, Fuyao, Jiawei Yao, Baofeng Chen, Ying Yang, Yueming Xu, Mufu Yan, and Yanxiang Zhang. 2021. "A Novel Decarburizing-Nitriding Treatment of Carburized/through-Hardened Bearing Steel towards Enhanced Nitriding Kinetics and Microstructure Refinement" Coatings 11, no. 2: 112. https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings11020112

APA Style

Yan, F., Yao, J., Chen, B., Yang, Y., Xu, Y., Yan, M., & Zhang, Y. (2021). A Novel Decarburizing-Nitriding Treatment of Carburized/through-Hardened Bearing Steel towards Enhanced Nitriding Kinetics and Microstructure Refinement. Coatings, 11(2), 112. https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings11020112

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