Mechanical Properties of Iron Plating Layer after Nitriding

Abstract

A certain thickness of the iron plating layer without impurities was fabricated on the surface of pure iron by employing electroplating treatment. The thickness of the iron plating layer was measured by approximately 23 μm. SEM studies demonstrated the microstructure of the surface of the iron plating layer before and after nitriding. According to XRD analysis, the compound layer was mostly composed of Fe2-3N with high supersaturation of nitrogen. After nitriding, the microhardness of the sample was 555 HV with the depth of the matrix at 30 μm, which was four times the hardness of the matrix. Under the same experimental conditions, the wear volume loss and friction coefficient of the nitrided iron plating layer was lower, showing that nitriding can significantly improve the poor wear resistance of the iron plating layer. The Salt spray corrosion experiment showed that nitriding can significantly improve the corrosion resistance of the iron plating layer.