Electrochemical features of plasma electrolytic thermochemical processing of steel and titanium alloys

Abstract

This review is devoted to an analysis of plasma electrolytic saturation of steel and titanium alloys with light elements (nitrogen, carbon, and oxygen). These technologies have a number of advantages because of the high rates of processes and the low cost of equipment. Electrochemical aspects of the process, which include the formation of a gas–vapor shell, its composition, processes of anodic dissolution, and oxidation and adsorption of a saturating element on the surface processed, are considered. Data of investigations of the mechanism of the release and transport of nitrogen and carbon from the electrolyte into metal are given.