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On the fundamental mechanisms of active screen plasma nitriding

journal contribution
posted on 2009-09-18, 00:00 authored by Santiago Corujeira Gallo, H Dong
The nitriding mechanisms of conventional DC plasma treatments have been extensively studied and discussed, but no general agreement has been reached thus far. The sputtering and redeposition theory is among the most accepted ones but, even though this mechanism is feasible, its contribution to the nitriding effect is under question. Furthermore, the novel active screen plasma nitriding technique has been successful in treating samples left at floating potential, where sputtering can not be considered to play a major role. Therefore, it has been proposed that the material sputtered from the cathodic mesh of the active screen furnace (auxiliary cathode) and deposited onto the treated specimens is involved in the mass transfer of nitrogen. The contribution made by this transferred material is the focus of attention of the present study. The hardening effect on the treated specimens showed considerable correlation with the deposition layer, and the XRD analysis of this deposited material yielded possible FeN and FexN peaks. This finding supports the deposition of iron nitrides and their subsequent decomposition on the treated substrate as a mechanism of significance to the plasma nitriding treatments conducted in active screen experimental settings.

History

Journal

Vacuum

Volume

84

Pagination

321-325

Location

Oxford, Eng.

ISSN

0042-207X

eISSN

1879-2715

Language

eng

Publication classification

C Journal article, C1.1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal

Copyright notice

2009, Elsevier

Issue

2

Publisher

Elsevier