Structure and Microhardness of Steel Samples after Pulse Plasma Flows Processing*

Copyright © 2013 Anuar Zhukeshov et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The phase structure of surfaces of steel samples, modified by pulse plasma processing, was analyzed using XRD and metallographic methods. It has been shown, that after pulse plasma processing under different conditions a modified structure consisting of three new phases, including austenite, iron nitride and carbide, is formed. The dependence of phase transition and microhardness on plasma flow parameters has been studied. A sharp decrease in the dimensions of ferrite crystallites after the impact of plasma flow is observed. The main purpose of hardening of common steel samples is formation of nano-dimension ferrite with oriented iron carbide on grains