Abstract
The Fe-Cr-Ni alloy (17-4PH steel) with metastable state was plasma thermochemical treated with and without rare earths (RE) addition. The experimental results show that after plasma thermochemical treatments, the initial coarse-grained structure with 20–40 μm grain size of 17-4PH steel could change into composition gradient nanoscale grains (as small as 5 nm) with random crystallographic orientations in plasma nitrocarburized layer. The hardness, modulus and wear resistance properties of nitrocarburized layer with nanoscale grains could be improved apparently. The present surface nanocrystallizaion method demonstrates the technological significance of metal alloy in improving traditional processing techniques and provides a new approach for surface nanocrystallizing of metal alloys.
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