Abstract
Abstract High speed steel (HSS) is a standard material for cutting tools with operation temperatures up to 500°C. Plasma immersion ion implantation (PIII) is a technique suitable for surface modifications at moderate temperatures around 300–400°C. The diffusion behaviour of nitrogen during PIII and subsequent annealing is investigated to see whether low temperature implantations are suitable for HSS tools. Nitrogen implantation using PIII into M3 HSS at 400°C at doses between 1 and 6 × 1018 atoms/cm2 was performed. The depth profiles were determined using glow discharge optical spectroscopy (GDOS), while the phase composition was investigated with X-ray diffraction (XRD). Additionally depth-resolved micro-hardness measurements were performed. For the implanted samples, a diffusion constant of 1.75 × 10−9 cm2 s−1 was observed. However, during annealing a diffusion constant reduced by several orders of magnitude is observed.
Published Version
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