Active Screen Plasma Treatment

A special issue of Metals (ISSN 2075-4701). This special issue belongs to the section "Metal Casting, Forming and Heat Treatment".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (28 February 2022) | Viewed by 24097

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Department of Chemistry and Materials Engineering, Kansai University, Osaka, Japan
Interests: active screen plasma nitriding; plasma nitriding; surface engineering; surface modification; plasma CVD; diamond like carbon; spark plasma sintering; high-entropy alloys

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Conventional direct current plasma nitriding (DCPN) has some limitations and disadvantages, such as edge effect, hollow-cathode effect, distortion, arcing, and overheating of specimens. Because of these problems, some new methods were presented to avoid the direct formation of plasma on the surface and its consequent problems. One of the methods is active screen plasma nitriding (ASPN) or cathodic cage plasma nitriding (CCPN). Many researchers have reported on factors that are critical to nitriding, including the geometry of the active screen or cathodic cage, the distance between the screen and the component, screen material, furnace size, the value of bias power, and the sample position. Various materials such as steels, titanium alloys, aluminum alloys, copper alloys, high-entropy alloys, polymers, and carbon fibers have been nitrided by ASPN or CCPN. Different materials such as silver, copper, titanium, chromium, and carbon have also been applied as an active screen. This Special Issue will collect reviews and articles related to active screen plasma treatments such as ASPN or CCPN as well as active screen plasma carburizing (ASPC) or cathodic cage plasma carburizing (CCPC). The objective of this Special Issue is to encourage communication among researchers broadly relating to the topic of active screen plasma treatment.

I am pleased to invite you to submit your work to the Special Issue, “Active Screen Plasma Treatment”.

Prof. Dr. Akio NISHIMOTO
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • active screen plasma nitriding
  • active screen plasma carburizing
  • cathodic cage plasma nitriding
  • cathodic cage plasma carburizing
  • plasma nitriding
  • plasma carburizing
  • surface engineering
  • coating
  • duplex process
  • high-entropy alloys

Published Papers (7 papers)

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Research

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15 pages, 57063 KiB  
Article
Enhancement of Medium-Carbon Steel Corrosion and Wear Resistance by Plasma Electrolytic Nitriding and Polishing
by Andrey Apelfeld, Anatoly Borisov, Ilya Dyakov, Sergey Grigoriev, Boris Krit, Sergei Kusmanov, Sergey Silkin, Igor Suminov and Ivan Tambovskiy
Metals 2021, 11(10), 1599; https://doi.org/10.3390/met11101599 - 09 Oct 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1699
Abstract
The influence of technological parameters of plasma electrolytic nitriding and polishing on the wear resistance and corrosion resistance of medium-carbon steel is considered. The morphology and roughness of the surface, phase composition and microhardness of the modified layer have been investigated. Wear resistance [...] Read more.
The influence of technological parameters of plasma electrolytic nitriding and polishing on the wear resistance and corrosion resistance of medium-carbon steel is considered. The morphology and roughness of the surface, phase composition and microhardness of the modified layer have been investigated. Wear resistance was studied under dry friction conditions with bearing steel as counter-body. It was found that plasma electrolytic polishing removes the loose part of the oxide layer and provides a two-fold decrease in surface roughness compared with untreated steel, and 2.8 times compared with the nitrided one. Combined processing at optimal technological parameters leads to an increase in microhardness up to 1130 HV, an increase in wear resistance by 70 times, and a decrease in the corrosion current density by almost 3 times in comparison with untreated steel. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Active Screen Plasma Treatment)
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20 pages, 7036 KiB  
Article
Effects of Plasma-Chemical Composition on AISI 316L Surface Modification by Active Screen Nitrocarburizing Using Gaseous and Solid Carbon Precursors
by Saeed M. Jafarpour, Andrei V. Pipa, Alexander Puth, Anke Dalke, Jürgen Röpcke, Jean-Pierre H. van Helden and Horst Biermann
Metals 2021, 11(9), 1411; https://doi.org/10.3390/met11091411 - 07 Sep 2021
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 1884
Abstract
Low-temperature plasma nitrocarburizing treatments are applied to improve the surface properties of austenitic stainless steels by forming an expanded austenite layer without impairing the excellent corrosion resistance of the steel. Here, low-temperature active screen plasma nitrocarburizing (ASPNC) was investigated in an industrial-scale cold-wall [...] Read more.
Low-temperature plasma nitrocarburizing treatments are applied to improve the surface properties of austenitic stainless steels by forming an expanded austenite layer without impairing the excellent corrosion resistance of the steel. Here, low-temperature active screen plasma nitrocarburizing (ASPNC) was investigated in an industrial-scale cold-wall reactor to compare the effects of two active screen materials: (i) a steel active screen with the addition of methane as a gaseous carbon-containing precursor and (ii) an active screen made of carbon-fibre-reinforced carbon (CFC) as a solid carbon precursor. By using both active screen materials, ASPNC treatments at variable plasma conditions were conducted using AISI 316L. Moreover, insight into the plasma-chemical composition of the H2-N2 plasma for both active screen materials was gained by laser absorption spectroscopy (LAS) combined with optical emission spectroscopy (OES). It was found that, in the case of a CFC active screen in a biased condition, the thickness of the nitrogen-expanded austenite layer increased, while the thickness of the carbon-expanded austenite layer decreased compared to the non-biased condition, in which the nitrogen- and carbon-expanded austenite layers had comparable thicknesses. Furthermore, the crucial role of biasing the workload to produce a thick and homogeneous expanded austenite layer by using a steel active screen was validated. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Active Screen Plasma Treatment)
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9 pages, 9406 KiB  
Article
Effect of Active Screen Plasma Nitriding on Mechanical Properties of Spheroidal Graphite Cast Iron
by Yasuhiro Hoshiyama, Keisuke Chiba and Tomoki Maruoka
Metals 2021, 11(3), 412; https://doi.org/10.3390/met11030412 - 03 Mar 2021
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1661
Abstract
Spheroidal graphite cast iron is a material with a wide range of uses such as in automobile parts. By applying active screen plasma nitriding (ASPN) treatment, the use of spheroidal graphite cast iron is expanded, and it can be expected to be used [...] Read more.
Spheroidal graphite cast iron is a material with a wide range of uses such as in automobile parts. By applying active screen plasma nitriding (ASPN) treatment, the use of spheroidal graphite cast iron is expanded, and it can be expected to be used under special load conditions. In this study, we evaluated the effect of ASPN treatment on the mechanical properties of spheroidal graphite cast iron. With ASPN treatment, a nitride layer was formed on the sample surface and a diffusion layer was formed further inside the nitride layer. The thickness of nitride layer increased as the treatment temperature increased. The hardness was improved by ASPN treatment. The abrasion resistance was improved by ASPN treatment, and longer treatment time resulted in higher abrasion resistance. The fatigue strength was improved by ASPN treatment, and longer treatment time resulted in higher fatigue strength. ASPN treatment also improved the corrosion resistance. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Active Screen Plasma Treatment)
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9 pages, 11170 KiB  
Article
Application of Active-Screen Plasma Nitriding to an Austenitic Stainless Steel Small-Diameter Thin Pipe
by Kenzo Sumiya, Shinkichi Tokuyama, Akio Nishimoto, Junichi Fukui and Atsushi Nishiyama
Metals 2021, 11(2), 366; https://doi.org/10.3390/met11020366 - 22 Feb 2021
Cited by 17 | Viewed by 2308
Abstract
Low-temperature active-screen plasma nitriding (ASPN) was applied in this study to improve the bending rigidity and corrosion resistance of a small-diameter thin pipe composed of austenitic stainless steel (SUS 304). The inner and outer diameters of the pipe were ϕ0.3 and ϕ0.4 mm, [...] Read more.
Low-temperature active-screen plasma nitriding (ASPN) was applied in this study to improve the bending rigidity and corrosion resistance of a small-diameter thin pipe composed of austenitic stainless steel (SUS 304). The inner and outer diameters of the pipe were ϕ0.3 and ϕ0.4 mm, respectively, and the pipe length was 50 mm. The jig temperature was measured using a thermocouple and was adopted as the nitriding temperature because measuring the temperature of a small-diameter pipe is difficult. The nitriding temperature was varied from 578 to 638 K to investigate the effect of temperature on the nitriding layer and mechanical property. The nitriding layer thickness increased with an increase in nitriding temperature, reaching 15 μm at 638 K. The existence of expanded austenite (S phase) in this nitriding layer was revealed using the X-ray diffraction pattern. Moreover, the surface hardness increased with the nitriding temperature and took a maximum value of 1100 HV above 598 K. The bending load increased with an increase in the nitriding temperature in relation to the thicker nitriding layer and increased surface hardness. The nitrided samples did not corrode near the center, and corrosion was noted only near the tip at high nitriding temperatures of 618 and 638 K in a salt spray test. These results indicated that the bending rigidity of the small-diameter thin pipe composed of austenitic stainless steel was successfully improved using low-temperature ASPN while ensuring corrosion resistance. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Active Screen Plasma Treatment)
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11 pages, 3971 KiB  
Article
Structural Characterization of Fine γ′-Fe4N Nitrides Formed by Active Screen Plasma Nitriding
by Jaroslaw Jan Jasinski, Lukasz Kurpaska, Tadeusz Fraczek, Malgorzata Lubas and Maciej Sitarz
Metals 2020, 10(12), 1656; https://doi.org/10.3390/met10121656 - 09 Dec 2020
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 4696
Abstract
The paper presents the structural characterization of γ′-Fe4N nitrides produced by active screen plasma nitriding (ASPN) processes. Experiments were performed on the Fe-Armco model material at 693, 773, and 853 K for 6 h. Investigation of the properties of the substrate [...] Read more.
The paper presents the structural characterization of γ′-Fe4N nitrides produced by active screen plasma nitriding (ASPN) processes. Experiments were performed on the Fe-Armco model material at 693, 773, and 853 K for 6 h. Investigation of the properties of the substrate was realized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM, SEM–EBSD/Kikuchi lines), energy-filtered transmission electron microscopy (TEM-EFTEM), X-ray diffraction (GID, grazing incidence diffraction, micro-XRD), and secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS). Results have confirmed that the γ′-Fe4N nitrides’ structure and morphology depend considerably on the nitriding process’s plasma conditions and cooling rate. In addition to that, γ′-Fe4N nitrides’ formation can be correlated with the surface layer saturation mechanism and recombination effect. It has been shown that the γ′-Fe4N structure depends considerably on several phenomena that occur in the diffusive layer (e.g., top layer decomposition, nitrogen, and carbon atoms’ migration). Our research proves that the nitrogen concentration gradient is a driving force of nitrogen migration atoms during the recombination of γ′-Fe4N nitrides. Finally, realized processes have allowed us to optimize active screen plasma nitriding to produce a surface layer of fine nitrides. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Active Screen Plasma Treatment)
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12 pages, 7456 KiB  
Article
Plasma-Nitriding Properties of CoCrFeMnNi High-Entropy Alloys Produced by Spark Plasma Sintering
by Takato Karimoto and Akio Nishimoto
Metals 2020, 10(6), 761; https://doi.org/10.3390/met10060761 - 07 Jun 2020
Cited by 21 | Viewed by 4525
Abstract
High-entropy alloys (HEAs) were fabricated by powder metallurgy using gas-atomized powder and spark plasma sintering (SPS) followed by surface modification (plasma nitriding) of the sintered sample. Plasma nitriding forms nitride and induces solid-soluting of N; it enables the diffusion of N atoms by [...] Read more.
High-entropy alloys (HEAs) were fabricated by powder metallurgy using gas-atomized powder and spark plasma sintering (SPS) followed by surface modification (plasma nitriding) of the sintered sample. Plasma nitriding forms nitride and induces solid-soluting of N; it enables the diffusion of N atoms by removing the passive film formed on the surface of alloys such as stainless steel, Al alloys, and Ti alloys, via the sputtering of cations during glow discharge. Therefore, plasma nitriding has the potential to process HEAs that contain strong oxidizing elements such as Cr, Al, and Ti. In this work, a sintered CoCrFeMnNi HEA was plasma-nitrided and its properties were subsequently evaluated. A uniform microstructure without segregation was obtained in the SPS sample, and its hardness and wear resistance were found to have improved. Analysis of the sample surface after nitriding revealed that an expanded face-centered cubic phase formed on the surface plasma-nitrided at 673 K and that a CrN phase formed on the surface plasma-nitrided at temperatures greater than 723 K. The surface hardness of the plasma-nitrided sample was 1200 HV or greater, and the wear resistance and pitting corrosion resistance were improved compared with those of the untreated sample. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Active Screen Plasma Treatment)
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Review

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26 pages, 7216 KiB  
Review
Influence of Cold Spray Parameters on Bonding Mechanisms: A Review
by Surinder Singh, R. K. Singh Raman, Christopher C. Berndt and Harpreet Singh
Metals 2021, 11(12), 2016; https://doi.org/10.3390/met11122016 - 13 Dec 2021
Cited by 31 | Viewed by 5561
Abstract
The cold spray process is governed by the impact of high velocity feedstock particles onto a substrate without melting. Hence, the bulk material properties are retained. However, it is challenging to achieve good adhesion strength. The adhesion strength depends on factors such as [...] Read more.
The cold spray process is governed by the impact of high velocity feedstock particles onto a substrate without melting. Hence, the bulk material properties are retained. However, it is challenging to achieve good adhesion strength. The adhesion strength depends on factors such as the cold spray process parameters, substrate conditions, coating/substrate interactions at the interface and feedstock material properties. This review examines fundamental studies concerning the adhesion mechanisms of cold spray technology and considers the effect of cold spray input parameters such as temperature, stand-off-distance, pressure, process gas, spray angle, and traverse speed of the cold spray torch on the bonding mechanism and adhesion strength. Furthermore, the effects of substrate conditions such as temperature, hardness, roughness and material on the adhesion mechanism are highlighted. The effect of feedstock properties, such as feed rate, shape and size are summarized. Understanding the effect of these parameters is necessary to obtain the optimal input parameters that enable the best interfacial properties for a range of coating/substrate material combinations. It is expected that feedstock of spherical morphology and small particle size (<15 μm) provides optimal interfacial properties when deposited onto a mirror-finished substrate surface using high pressure cold spray. Deep insights into each parameter exposes the uncovered potential of cold spray as an additive manufacturing method. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Active Screen Plasma Treatment)
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